Dragon Pendant
by JazzyRocks78
Summary: In a village, distant from the rest of the world, a boy is birthed who is the first in the village to be born with magic in his veins. The village people live on the border of where the beast land begins. Believing that the baby is a demon, cursed with this power, they toss the baby into a cavern, sacrificing him to the deity levelled beast that lurks within... Full Summary inside!
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, guys! Welcome to my first, long-running Fanfic. Unfortunately, the full summary of this story cannot fit into the undersized amount of characters we get in the actual summary. Also, unfortunately, it means you guys can choose to read it, or not, and it just means I have extra, useless writing to do.**

 **But yeah, here is the full summary...**

 _ **FULL SUMMARY:**_ _ **This story is based in the Chinese Era – In a world where those with strength and power dominate over the weak; in a world where magical beasts and magic wielding Mages exist, and in a world where there are Battle Saints, Ninja Saints, and Mage Saints, this is the world where those with power live like royalty and those who don't struggle to live another day. The magical beast and the Ninja's, Mage's and Warrior's are at war with each other, each only owning half the continent but want full control over it.**_

 _ **In a village, distant from the rest of the world, a boy is birthed who is the first in the village to be born with magic in his veins. The village people live on the border of where the beast land begins. Believing that the baby is a demon, cursed with this power, they toss the baby into a cavern, sacrificing him to the deity levelled beast that lurks within...**_

* * *

The wind whistled softly but was interrupted by the echo of pain coming from a small wooden house.

This village, located almost sixty miles from any town, or city, and boarded the Magical Forest of Beasts, was by no means normal. This village was secluded from the rest of the world, living its own ideals and blocking out what the other townships and cities had to say.

This village was poor. The village had no means of making a living and instead focused on continuing its traditions and never buying or selling any items. The village would only make enough so that its people could live on the land, and would not have to come into contact with the vile, outside world.

The village of Xiao was very close to the strip of neutral land that neither beast nor human had taken claim to. But, the village knew that in the crack, a crack that seemed endless lived a powerful Magical beast that they worshipped like a God. They gave it sacrifices, hoping that it wouldn't kill their people, and they had a festival for the beast every 50 moons.

Another shriek pierced through the air like an arrow, a torch flickering slightly in the night's wind. The stench of blood filled the small house, and a woman, whose face was pale and sickly, lay on a bed made of cloth as a man held her hand.

Her pale, blonde hair, stuck to her forehead as the beads of sweat trailed down her face. The man next to, his dark red hair sticking to his face too, held onto her hand. His white cotton shirt stuck to him, and his rough cut pants were no longer a pale brown, but now a dark red.

For hours, the woman had laid on the make-shift bed eagerly, and after finally going into labour had begun to writhe in pain on it. She gripped and clawed at the cloth, ripping it with her fingers. Her legs were up and bent, and a village doctor looked for any sign of the baby's head.

Almost unseen by the doctor, a head began to emerge, he told the woman to keep going and soon the baby's whole head emerge and then he began to aid in bringing the baby out.

They wrapped the baby in a cotton sheet, and the doctor passed it to the father, a confused look graced the doctor's features.

He said, "Your baby is incredibly hot," he passed the baby, and then lifted up the arm of his cotton shirt, "A burn mark?"

The village elders came to the doctor, watching as he prodded at the burn mark. The burn suddenly gave an insufferable amount of pain to the doctor, and he thrust his arm into a bucket, allowing the cool water to soothe the burn that lingered like poison on his arm.

"Demon child!" The elders yelled, and they pointed their wrinkled fingers at the child in the man's arm.

"Damn that child to the pit! Allow the God bellow to feast on this devil offspring!" The eldest croaked, he charged from the room.

Soon all the men inside followed, they cursed the family inside. Left in the house was the man and his wife, his wife's eyes had been glossy and begged the man to spare the child, but the man's eyes had become hollow and he ignored the look his wife gave him.

The man grabbed the clock to the side, and then he fled from the house. Rubble beneath his feet and the wind pushed him backwards, the man continued to walk with the child that cried for affection and love. The man had made his heart stone, the crying of the child did not affect him, but he looked at the child callously.

The man's upper body was strong, and with this, he barged through the increasing wind, his cape behind him. And, within a few minutes, he stood at the crevice – he stared down at the abyss. He held the newborn out in his hands, one hand at the child's head and the other at its lower back.

"Maybe if this village were to see the outside, they'd understand you are a Mage born from a Battle Saint," The man's rough voice caused the child to stifle its cries, "I hope you survive what is down there, and this fall, one day you will be the most powerful man on this continent. Like I was."

These words lingered in the air, and the air was split. The child began falling.

The child fell, for what seemed an eternity to the man, before he vanished from the man's eye. With a sigh and a sound of annoyance, the man turned on his heels. He chanted a few words, and then with a mighty fire surrounding him, he lay waste to the village...

* * *

The child had fallen at least fifty meters, before becoming caught on a branch that had been not far from the fall.

The child had begun to weep and awoke the beast within. A large shadow began to move from the darkness that engulfed the cave, and it emerged in front of the child. It's large wings trailing behind him as his red scales invaded the child's eyes, that had first opened at the sound of his father's voice. Its large eyes had slits for pupils and sharp teeth that were plentiful in its large jaws, the eyes briefly glanced over the child.

Soon a light danced around the beast and it became smaller and smaller, upon reaching 1.8 meters in length did it stop. The beast had become a human, and its body was sturdy and strong.

The beast now had light colour red hair, but still had its intense green eyes with black slits. The body began to rise upwards.

This was a deity level magical beast! They had the power to take on a human form and lived for thousands of years and were considered to be the peak level that someone on the continent could become before leaving to another plane.

He reached out to the child, feeling the child's body heat before even coming into contact with the child.

"This heat," The voice said, pondering to itself, "I'll raise ou child, you have a high level of potential to become a Battle Saint or a Mage Saint."

The child, slightly shivering, did not stop crying until the man held it in his hands. He began to softly float downwards, wondering why someone had sent such a blessed child to him.

The cave was dark, and the child's eyes could not adjust to this darkness, not just yet. To provide light, the man, without a chant, made an everlasting flame that burned brightly. From clothes of the dead that had been chucked down into the cave, the beast created a bed.

Still holding the child, he sat with his legs crossed. He stared at the child who only bubbled slightly, and then moved its hands. The human body of the beast shifted slightly, moving his hand through its long hair.

"You probably don't have a name, as you look like one who was just brought to this world." The man, with a hand on his chin, said while thinking deeply.

"Your name shall be Natsu."


	2. Chapter 2

**The second chapter! Enjoy!**

 **Review the story, and give me feedback on how I can make the story better and more appealing for you guys! I have this weird thing for posting two chapters on the first day...**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 2: Five years**_

* * *

The cave, although dark, had been blessed with some light.

The beast that lay in the corner looked at a small boy, the slits in his eyes carefully watching the salmon-haired boy who climbed the rocks. The boy had great upper body strength, and for a five-year-old his potential was immense.

The large beast began to move, slightly startling the boy who hung to the wall with one foot and one hand because he had turned to watch how his father moved. The cotton, roughly cut shorts waved slightly as the boy wobbled on the wall.

After seeing that the large beast, which was a deity level dragon, had just been getting comfortable, he began his ascent up the rocks again.

When the boy had begun to learn how to walk he grasped a hold onto it very quickly, and now, every day for two years, the boy climbed the rocky wall trying to get higher every day.

Cold to the touch, and rough to feel, the boy had begun to get higher every day. And this, of course, pleased the five-year-old as he had achieved.

Excitedly, the boy would begin his descent, yelling for his father to come.

"Father, father!" He had yelled every day for two years, "Look I made it higher!"

The beast would roar with laughter, and congratulate the boy, before telling him about the world above the cave.

"Above this cave is a village," And the story began, the boy would jump off the rocks and onto his father's scales, "A village with people, and beyond that village one with people like you. They have the same gift you do, they are strong and hold magic within their bodies. They train it so they can become stronger, which you will start doing once you turn six."

"Why when I become six, father?" The boy would pout, slightly agitated, "I can start now."

"You cannot start now, as your magic will only come to your body when you are at a stage of peak development," The beast would sigh, then would continue his story, "We gather the natural energy from around us, in the ground and the air; in the sky and the sea, and we take it into our on bodies while meditating. This helps one to have a break through, and become more powerful than before."

Today was different, though, the boy continued to climb even when his hands bled, and the beast looked amused at the boy. He began to shift into his human form and sat cross-legged on the floor watching the boy.

"What are you doing, Natsu?" The man asked, eying the boy with a cold look. The boy stopped and looked back at his father, the one who had raised him from a child and taught him perfect English.

"I want to be strong enough to learn magic, so I decided to try harder today." The boy admitted, slightly scared of what his father might do to him.

"I cannot teach you magic until your sixth birthday, but I can make you a strong warrior if we start a vigorous training," Slightly ruffling his own hair, the man thought carefully about his plan. "But you are not meant to start until you turn eight, and you are a way off becoming eight. And, one must have the dedication to train for four hours a day-!"

"I have the dedication!" The boy nodded his salmon head and replied eagerly.

"Come then." The boy found himself drifting downwards with a wave of his father's hand.

Natsu found himself on the floor within seconds, his feet bare on the ground. He stood rigid in front of his father, the man inspected his son. _'His upper body needs a little work, and his legs and his arms are in good condition due to his climbing. His endurance is a little bit disappointing, but can be fixed with training.'_

"When I train you, do not call me father. Call me Igneel," The man said ruthlessly, prodding the boy to test his muscles in certain spaces, "A warrior also has to rely on the nature around him, the purest energy mother nature has to offer can be trained into one's body. Without actually taking this energy a warrior can reach the sixth rank before needing this energy to break through to the seventh rank, after that you need to train the strength of your mind and inner body."

"Why does one need to train their mind?" The boy inquired, focused on his father's words.

"Hm," Igneel finished prodding the boy, then looked at him dead in the eye. "Many Mages have spells that can pierce one's soul and inflict damage, this gives them a chance to kill, and they will not waste that chance. If one trains one's mind, it will cause one to be less prone to these attacks? Do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand!" Igneel reached outwards and placed a hand on the boy's hair.

"Let us begin," Retracting his hand, and placing it at his side he used magic to lift multiple rocks into the air.

The air around them moved in several different ways, uncoordinated with itself as the rocks began to rise into the air. They began to mould together, shaping a rod with two, round lumps on the end. It hovered in the air for several moments while finalising, and then was slowly placed on the ground. The wind vanished from the cave, leaving a slight breeze and the everlasting flame that had been in the cave for five years.

"This is to help your upper body strength," Igneel spoke, picking up the bar in the middle that was connected to the two lumps at the end, "You do quite a bit of climbing, but mostly use your arms. This will help train one's upper body. You will pick this up, and bend down with it, your upper body staying still and lower body moving downwards, and your legs will bend. This will build upper leg strength and leg strength."

"How many times should I do this?" Staring at the rod with two circles on the end, made from rock, in his father's hand, the boy inquired.

"For now – fifteen times, every morning and every night," He positioned his son correctly, making sure the boy's legs were a shoulders width apart and the rod rested on his shoulders. "After you find this easy, you must do thirty. And, after training one's body to the maximum with the rod, you will be able to life rocks twice the size of you, weighing 200kg. This will only happen when you reach rank five as a warrior when you reach rank three one can lift 100kg."

The boy began training straight away, making sure he was doing it correctly. His concentration surprising the pale, red-haired man, who watched his son with content knowing he would be a great man someday. But, if Natsu were to

But, if Natsu were to leave someday, and explore the continent he wouldn't be able to fit in with ease. He was raised in a wild way, he had no manners or courtesy and he hadn't learnt of material things, such as money. Igneel would have to call upon an old friend who lived in a city to help.

Not only would the boy have a hard time to fit in, but he'd be thrust into the raging war between humans and beast, and the war between the humans and the humans. Such a pitiful species to fight amongst itself for power and land.

When the time is right, Igneel will tell the truth of Natsu and his existence, and what he truly is. Unfortunately, this would not be until he was older – Natsu couldn't comprehend this at his current age, and Igneel would only confuse the poor boy.

Natsu dropped the rod; with sweat dripping down his face, he grinned toothily at his father.

"That was more than I told you to do, boy," He shook his head, taking his arms and crossing them across his body, "You will only strain your body if you continue to do that."

"I apologise, I could not help myself, though, Igneel," Natsu smiled simply at his father, "What is next?"

"You will run around this cave, until you drop," He eyed the boy, whose eyes filled with a fiery passion and determination, and the boy began to run around the cave.

* * *

 _A year later..._

The boy bounced around the room like a ball. Full of excitement and happiness he looked towards the draconic beast that began to change into a human, the dragon chuckled and took on his human form looking at the boy.

"I can guess why you're excited," The man chortled, amused seeing how excited the boy was to learn what magic he could control. "I am going to amplify the natural essence around us. There are only four magics you can wield, you may only get one, but if you are exceptional you may get three. The most a person has had is two, and they became a Mage Saint and went to another plane."

"Come on, Come on!" The boy jumped with joy, running up to the wall and the walking up it, then using his legs to flip himself back off it.

Over the past year the boy had been building up his body strength, but Igneel already knew that the boy could become a Battle Saint from when he was three, but what he later realised is that the boy could go beyond that.

Natsu could now run hours around the spacious cave without even working up a small amount sweat and had reached a rank one warrior almost three moons ago. The boy could now lift anything that was 50kg and bellow, because of his young age he was hindered a little in his training, but when Natsu is to become eight he will no longer be hindered and his training will become quite rapid.

"I want you to enter a meditative state, and then tell me what colour dots you see around you and if they are plentiful or weak," Igneel spoke, his eyes filled with excitement too as to see if he could train the boy in fire magic.

Natsu sat down on the cold ground and focused all his thought on the energy around him.

He felt it.

He felt it surrounding him; engulfing him. He felt it in his fingertips and in his hair, and he could see the coloured dots in his eyes – so plentiful and glorious. They mingled together, the red dots and the brown dots stood out the most, but the green dots were weaker than the other coloured dots.

"What do you see?" His father's voice fluttered into his ears, almost unwillingly.

Natsu awoke from his trance and said, "I saw red and brown dots the most, but there were some greens too."

"Fire and earth, and a weaker wind element," His father grinned at him widely, Natsu had never seen that before. "Maybe you are a genius – look forward to the next two years of magic training, boy."


	3. Chapter 3

**No time skips this time, but there probably will be a few more – not too many, though.**

 **Does anyone want to suggest a cover photo for this story?**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 3: Ruthless Training**_

* * *

The six-year-old boy stared at the wall with hard eyes.

His salmon-locks rather long and annoying, and he much preferred them when they were spiking on the top on his head. But, over the last few months, he had become accustomed to the bangs that cupped his face, he was too busy meditating so that he could break through to rank one.

To his dismay, it was much harder to become a Mage than a warrior, and almost fifty moons had passed since his father had taught him how to meditate then his father had spent a lot of time on land than in the cave.

Since then his father had spent a lot of time on land than in the cave. Although Natsu missed his father when he left, when Igneel returned home he would bring Natsu the pelts of animals so that he could make clothes and bags to store anything they collect in. Igneel had promised him that he would take Natsu to the outside world in due time.

The stories Natsu had heard off of his father of the outside world were glorious, he wished to bask in the sunlight that lit up the world. And, he wished so much to bathe in the waters that shimmered in the sun's light. Instead, he basked in the everlasting flame his father had left to him, and almost every five moons drops of water would drip through the crack above them and cool his skin.

From his father, he learned that people had things such as money, and they did not steal things, which he had learnt was taking things without people's permission, and they all paid for things.

Natsu wanted to break through badly, in his desperation he went a whole night without sleeping. Why? Because if he broke through his father would take him out beyond the crack that he was bound to, and out there he and his father would train from when the sun raised in the east and set in the west.

The boy, though understandably, didn't know how to contain his joy, and when his father came home every night for 50 moons he could feel the determination that emitted from the boy.

Natsu sat down, his legs crossed and his arms on his knees, and his wrist slightly brushing against his rough cut shorts. He took a long breath in, then slowly began to relax as the dots began to fill in the blackness of his eyelids.

He felt that all the dots for the fire element emitted from the everlasting flame and that the ground particles came from bellow him and towards the walls of the cave. Here there were certain parts more concentrated with particles than others, Natsu had gathered that these parts were more earthy than the others, so here there was naturally a higher amount of brown particles.

He then slowly began to shift these particles, taking their natural energy from one place to another, this was the movement of the earth and the fire.

Natsu focus' his-self on the everlasting flame. When he focused on this alone he could move the flame to anywhere he wanted, and when he could move it constantly for a few minutes would he break through, but that was how his father broke through, for Natsu it may be a few seconds or a lot longer.

Suddenly, as though he'd had a burst of energy, it felt like he could move the elements with much more ease. He opened his eyes, hoping that this was his breakthrough. He focused on the flame, but when he tried to move it without having to meditate it didn't work.

He groaned, throwing himself backwards onto the cold ground. Although when he moved the fire element when he was meditating it seemed he only moved a few and took a few sparks, not the whole flame.

Instead, he decided to try it a different way.

If he couldn't control the flames outside, he'd control them through the inside! This was the second method Igneel taught him, being able to absorb the essence and make the fire through your own body. He remembered his father's speech:

 _"Absorbing the essence into one's body is what allows us to create things like my fist of fire. This uses your spiritual energy, which is limited but can be replenished over time, and the energy you absorb towards your body. For Mages, we have certain spells we cannot use until training one's self spiritually, which is the meditation. Overall, spells are ranked on how much they required in spiritual energy, and we mages only breakthrough when we get this certain amount. But, spiritual energy is used in every spell, you do not have an unlimited supply."_

For this, Natsu decided that standing would be a good idea. He knew that it would be physically and mentally easier to use the fire element, as the earth element required you to be able to manipulate the earth essence to move at will. Only few earth essence spells needed to have earth essence brought to one's body.

He focused on the red dots that flickered and floated in the air, he began very slowly to bring them towards him, one at a time. Very soon, but slowly, the dots began to move closer to him body, and when there were quite a few around his body, he focused on his fist.

Igneel had returned, but he didn't wish to interrupt Natsu's training and was very content in watching his son's unwavering determination; this allowed him to watch as he swam in his own thoughts.

He didn't have much time to ponder in his own thoughts as he saw a light emit from the boy's hand, then, with almost a bursting sensation, fire sprung from the boy's hand.

A breakthrough.

"You did it!" Igneel said proudly, looking at the boy, whose eyes had only just begun to open. "As promised tomorrow we shall go above the crevice and train. Be ready for this ruthless training, boy."

* * *

The next day, Natsu awoke before the sun. His onyx eyes shined with pure excitement as he began lifting the rod with two lumps at the end. Over the course of the year, the lumps on the end had only grown in size to challenge the boy, and he could climb the wall without so much as sweating, not only that but his endurance had improved too.

Although the boy looked scrawny he was incredibly strong, but it wouldn't show until he was much older than he was now.

For today, his father told him to wear one of the cotton tunics from the bed of clothes, then after putting one on they would leave and he would explain about magical beasts, and train Natsu ruthlessly till dusk.

Considering that the crevice was more than 50 meters above them, Natsu wondered if he could climb all the way to the surface, but didn't want to try to incase he fell from a high height.

After waiting impatiently for awhile, Igneel finally awoke and looked at the boy who was meditating to pass time. He chortled, and then grabbed some of the meat from the night before and ate it, currently in his beast form looking at the boy with his big eyes. His claws covered in leftover meat, and his teeth still gnawing on the bones in his mouth.

"Let us go, father!" The boy bounded up to the dragon, taking a moment to gaze upon his father's scales, "One of your scales in loose, father."

"Oh-ho, it is? I must have loosened it the day before," His father looked at him, and then Igneel decided to tell the boy about his scales, "You see my scales are never permanent, I will lose five in my lifetime. This is the fifth one I've lost, and this scale will hold a magical power that will allow whoever binds with it to use less spiritual when casting spells."

"Does that mean if one were to wear it they would be able to cast more spells?" The boy inquired, slightly intrigued.

"Yes, it allows one to cast more spells. To cast one forbidden spell at saint level, it would take up a majority of one's spiritual energy, so the user can only cast one. With my scale, the one who holds it can cast maybe two or three forbidden spells when they enter saint level."

Natsu took all this in and then spoke and he said, "Could I have this one? When it completely falls from your body, father?"

"We shall see, now son, let us go." His father began to transform into his human form and then gestured for the boy to come to his arms.

He picked the boy up, placing the boy onto his back. Natsu clung onto his father as they began to rise into the air, he watched as the ground slipped from beneath them and the rocketed towards the sky.

Upon breaking out into the air, Natsu eyes had taken seconds to adjust. But when they did – oh but when they did.

The sight was glorious. The sky was a bright blue colour, with small white pieces of cotton in it. And, to the east was a ball of blinding light that barely touched the peak of the mountains. There was a haze of green and brown, and he knew from everything his father taught him, that these were trees. And, that this immense green, would be a forest.

"What is the name of this forest, father?" Natsu spoke loudly in amazement, his own eyes wide with excitement.

"This is the Forest of Magical Beasts."

* * *

Natsu and his father found a patch of grass, that was a fairly sized clearing, then made this space their training ground for the day.

"Today we shall focus on you earth element," His father spoke clearly, his eyes became hard as they usually did when they were training. "You will raise the earth with your own magical power today, or you will get half the amount of food I usually give you, and I shall eat your other half in front of you while you eat the other."

"Father! That is cruel!" The boy yelled, his eyes wide from shock, but they were filled with determination.

"Then you had better being, boy." Before these words had left Igneel's mouth, the boy had begun.

It was no easy task to move the earth, and they both knew this very well. Natsu at first tried to take the earth element to himself, as he had done for the fire element, but this did nothing other than raising a few bits of the dirt. This would be good for projectiles, but not for making spikes in the earth.

He thought back to all the teachings that his father had taught him, all the help that his father had given him through their training. But he couldn't grasp to any of it.

Instead, he tried harder, but this time he'd try gathering the energy at different places of his body. He'd start with his fist, and then his chest and stomach, and then work his way down towards his feet.

For the first hour of the day Natsu tried gathering the earth around his fist, although this did work, it wasn't in the way he wanted. Gradually the bits of the earth would cover his fist, and then when he punched outwards they dispersed sharply into the air, slicing through the air like a hot knife, and then buried themselves deeply into the tree trunks.

He next tried his chest, he did not know what this would do, but his father suggested that vulnerable areas can use earth magic for protection. And, as his father suggested it was true. He found that it created a chest piece like armour over his chest, although he could not hold it long and it crumbled like dust to the floor.

Already, the boy had begun sweating and he had just reached the three-hour mark. He looked at the sun to tell the time and could tell it was almost noon; Natsu decided it would be better to take a break and continue later.

He walked towards his father, who did not raise his head to see the boy. And, instead he addressed him, and said, "There are many who are ahead of you, you are not the strongest, Natsu," He eyed his son a little, feeling the boy's ego was a little over-sized, "There are many who you will meet when you are older who will surpass you and be able to squash you like a bug. When I have a friend to take you to the Mage school, you will be the same rank as them."

"When will I reach rank four, to be able to attend that school?" Natsu asked, his ego slightly deflated.

"I believe when you are ten." Instead of replying to his father, Natsu out on a hard far and his eyes became filled with an emotion Igneel had never seen before.

He sat down on the floor beside the lake, his father was perched on a rock, meditating. Natsu cupped his hands and reached into the water, taking a gulp full to refresh himself.

"About what I was going to teach you," His father said, catching the boy's attention, "When one kills a magical beast, they can skin for its hide, but in the forehead of the beast there should be a magical crystal. Depending on the rank of the beast that you killed, you can get a certain amount of money, but only beats of the third rank have magical crystals in their foreheads."

"Does that mean that a rank three beast magic crystal is worth less than one of the fourth?" The boy inquired, slightly interested in the beasts.

"Yes exactly that," His father nodded to confirmed this, "I shall go through the list of ranks, and how much they will sell for."

His father explained to him the different prices, magical crystals of a beast of seventh rank or high were worth more than 10,000 gold, and a saint level crystal could be worth more than 20,000 gold in some cases.

Soon, the salmon-haired boy began to train again, this time nearer to his father just in case his father gave him any tips. But after a few hours, he deiced to return to where he had been before.

Natsu returned to his area, the emotion that filled his eyes was not one of determination, but one of understanding.

You could not take the earth, or control it to your will, it is alive and it has a will of its own. That is why they look alive in his eyes as those colourful dots. Instead of taking it and trying to make it his own, he would ask for it and hope that it will lend it to him.

He began focusing himself on borrowing the concentrated earth, and then being slowly raising it into the air instead of bringing it to him; he now knew why spells that brought the earth to protect him were higher levelled spells, they required a high amount of spiritual energy.

His father watched, a gleam in his eye. The ground began to rumble and in a sudden burst, a spike rose from the ground, splitting the air with its sharp ends. One after another they rose from the dirt beneath their feet, some raised higher into the air than the others.

"Congratulations, you have broken through to rank one of the earth element magic." Igneel smiled proudly at the boy.

Natsu stood rigidly, his body limp; beads of sweat cascaded down his face like a slow waterfall. He gave a weak smile and collapsed onto the floor in a heap. He breathed deeply, but with a sense of achievement, he held a smile on his face.


	4. Chapter 4

**I might have to put another time skip in, but probably don't have to.**

 **This one's action packed, enjoy!  
**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 4: Invasion**_

* * *

Almost 100 moons later did the boy finally break through to a warrior of the second rank. And, now, he will have a harder time reaching rank three than it took him to reach rank one.

It was unordinary that the boy had grown this quickly in such short time – in fact, many children didn't break through to rank one until they were twelve. But, Igneel knew that it would take the boy years before he reached a rank three warrior, even with his glorious talent.

It was even worse for his Mage training; because the boy was so young he wouldn't reach rank two until he was ten, and then from then on it would be a breeze to him. This boy was special, but there aren't many like him in the world, some will have greater talent than him.

Undeniably, though, this boy was special.

"Father, how many saints inhabit the world?" The boy asked; the draconic, red beast looked down on him.

The boy had finished his training and now focused on his meditating. Children developed at a slower rate to those who had reached their teenage years and then once reaching adulthood the pace of their development would slow again.

"There are enough to count on your two hands, the rest vacate to other planes," His father saw the boy's concentration and decided to tell him about the artefacts that inhabited the world, "There are items we call artefacts, like my five scales, those are artefacts. And, they too, come in ranks. But, you will never find an artefact bellow a saint level. They can be weapons or jewellery, and eat will have a power-like element to it."

"Would I need a weapon when I am older, father?" Still in his meditating position, and slightly focusing on the elements around him, the boy asked his father. Not out of curiosity, but as to help him in the future.

"Every great warrior has a weapon, I have on in mind for you, too..." Igneel trailed off, his voice was a booming echo in the cave; his voice was proud and deep. "But, we shall attain it when you are seven."

The boy broke from his meditation in a hurry, looking at his father with wide eyes that shimmered in amazement and glee. The boy's mouth was wide with a toothy smile, and Igneel could clearly see the fangs that stood out from the rest of the teeth.

This boy had truly become a beast in a human's body.

But Igneel worried for him. The boy had never seen a human other than when he turned into his human form, he wondered if the boy might be confused and scared, then act irrationally out of fear.

"I've never seen a weapon before! What do they look like? Are they as sharp as your claws, or as big as your teeth!?" The boy asked in a hurry, climbing the wall with excitement.

Igneel simply chortled, then he told the boy to continue his training and fret about his weapon when he had finished.

Natsu immediately began to train, his rough cut shorts had grown slightly smaller on him as the boy had grown to almost one meter. And, the bangs that he had disliked 100 moons ago had been cut away by Igneel's black claws; he now had spiky short hair.

Upon reaching rank one as a mage in both fire and earth elements, he now felt it much more easy to move the earth and the flame.

His father had told him a few moons ago that he would have to undergo another test, and this would help to see how much spiritual energy the boy had in his body. The average human would not have much, and so wouldn't be able to cast spells or use magic, from this they would then say how many times higher it was than the average human.

 _"My spiritual energy was 20 times higher than the average humans, but today it would be much greater as I have trained it."_

He remembered how Igneel had said the test would go. Igneel would create a field of energy that the average human could not stand in, and then Natsu would have to stand in the field until he could no longer stand and would probably collapse or fall to his knees in. However many seconds the boy lasted, is how high his spiritual energy was.

The average Mage was only ten times higher than the average human.

Natsu began to focus himself on the flame. The little red dots that flickered here and there in his closed eyelids slowly began to move to the boy's hand and soon enveloped it in its hot flame. The boy then proceeded to thrust outwards with his fist, trying to maintain his fiery hand, but it only lasted a measly few seconds.

Only when a Mage reaches rank three will they be able to cast spells. And, whenever a warrior ranks up they increase in strength and speed, and their endurance is helped a little by the break through too.

Natsu was quite speedy without needing to break through, but with his breakthrough, he got a little faster after he did, so he did not complain.

The boy continued to train in the cave until nightfall...

* * *

When the night set over the cave, all that lit up the cave was the dim everlasting flame. It flickered in the slight breeze that came from the top of the crevice, but it stayed in one place as the boy and his father slept.

His father had been in his dragon form, his beast form, and his tail wrapped around where Natsu slept peacefully. The hard, yet flexible, tail, had been over ten meters long! It's brilliant, blood-red scales were lit dimly by the flame.

Compared to the small boy, he looked nothing more than a bug compared to it.

Although it seemed peaceful, they did not know of what beast lurked in the shadows at the crevice opening. These beasts were attuned with the darkness that engulfed the cave, and with their black, beady, lifeless eyes they could see past 50 meters. They could see the bottom of the deep pit that the boy and his father lived in, and they stalked the two like they were nothing more than pray.

Slowly, as though they had all the time the world had to offer, they began their careful descent into the abyss bellow. Taking careful footsteps; stopping every so often, and scanning the two down bellow.

These beasts seemed to have darkened skin, almost as black as soot, and six limbs coming off of them. They were almost 2 meters in length, and muscles ripped from their bodies as though they could not fit in their arms and chests.

These beasts were called Divians. The lowest rank that a Divian could be was a rank seven, and they were powerful warrior beasts, but could not use any magical spells. These magical beasts, though, could increase their strength with an enchantment.

Steadily, the beasts lowered themselves to the ground, but they made one fatal mistake. The dragon and human they were hunting had exceptional hearing, and when their feet patted on the ground like raindrops, the draconic beast was wide awake and alert.

The dragon pounced into action, pushing the boy into a crack in the wall. The beast began to move, shifting it's long, scaly tail to the side.

The six-limbed creatures did not waste haste and began to charge at the dragon that stood proudly and terrifyingly above them. The dragon lifted its black claws, and strike down upon one of the beasts in front of him, severing the body into three, unevenly cut pieces.

The second Divian climbed upon the dragons back, taking its huge fists and pounding into the armoured scales with full force. The other punched on the dragon's large tail and began pulling at it trying to remove it from the dragon.

Unfortunately, for the beady-eyed creature, the red beast flung its tail into the air and then swung right smashing the beast into the sharp wall. The Divian loosened its grip and fell lifeless as a spike protruded out of its body. Its body stayed in place, like a trophy.

Meanwhile, the boy watched from the wall. He watched as the large, pitch-black beast pounded into his father's back with its large fists. He watched as his father struggled to get the clingy beast off of it's back.

The scale began to break, and like dust, bits of it fell to the cold, hard cave floor.

Natsu watched on in terror, then closed his eyes tightly and clenched his jaw painfully. Suddenly, the fire in the room began to move, it cracked and spark and intensified becoming a bright, burning heaven.

It sprung towards the eyes of the all-black beast, blinding it – the beast fell from the back of the dragon.

And, with the opening, the dragon slammed one mighty foot down on the head of the beast, silencing its life. The cave was filled with the stench of blood, and the wind gently blew it to one side of the cave.

The dragon looked at the boy, whose arms were wide and pointing towards to where the deceased everlasting flame had been.

In Natsu time of panic, he made the flame move and burn brighter as to blind the enemy, which could be done by a Mage who had an exceptional ability for the fire element. It was a simple thing to do, but being a boy and using it in one's time of need, Igneel thought it would have been much harder due to fear. Natsu was a young boy after all.

The dragon slowly began to shift, and then decreased in size – he became a human again.

The silence enveloped the cave, and all that remained was the smell of blood that stained the floor and cascaded down the walls.

"Go back to sleep, you will train tomorrow," Igneel said, moving the body that had had its head stomped on, "Do not forget what happened here, always remember that fear. But, fight against it. Fight in your fear, and fight without fear of death."

The boy nodded meekly, then stayed in the crack of the wall. He felt safe from anymore attacks if he was in there...


	5. Chapter 5

**I may or may not be writing the tenth chapter right now...**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 5: The End**_

* * *

After that day, the day where the beast came and tried to kill his father, Natsu had worked harder than he had ever worked before.

And, now, the boy had trained until his seventh birthday, and his father watched the boy every day. But, Natsu fear of the dark never left after that night; this was more than 200 moons ago, and now the boy had turned seven years old.

The morning of Natsu birthday had been more than crazy. His father left early in the morning, and came back almost an hour later, while Natsu had begun his running of the cave, with chickens and more meat that the boy loved.

His feet tapped on the floor quickly and increased whenever he reached the dead, roasting animals. Natsu felt his mouth water with the smell of the roasting animals, and he would enjoy this birthday to the fullest.

Igneel had made clothes for him of all sizes, and today Natsu would be getting his first set of fur clothing. They were manufactured from the pelts of sixth ranked magical beasts. They were a brilliant, snow-white colour, and he'd be able to wear a set of boots that would fit his feet.

The boy hadn't even worked up a sweat in the first two hours it took for Igneel to roast the first chicken, but one thought lingered in the young boy's mind.

'Why was there a significant amount of food for two people?'

The boy thought his urge to ask his father why there was more food but then changed his mind; he watched his father yawn and continue to turn another chicken on the fire.

His running had come to an end, and that meant he would have to begin his meditation or climb the rocky wall that he hadn't climbed for a few days. Deciding to treat himself he moved towards the cold, dull, grey wall and placed his rough palms against it.

Suddenly, he felt more at home and ease. And like a skilled Ninja, he climbed the wall expertly, pulling and jumping slightly from side to side, the boy made his way up to the tree branch that marked where he had gotten up to last time.

As he grabbed for the branch with a tanned hand, he felt his footing give way. Slowly, the wall gave way and bits of rock tumbled to the floor like small balls and Natsu now hung to the wall with his arms alone. He looked down at the drop and felt himself getting slightly light headed because the height was quite shocking for the small boy to see.

Using the upper body strength that the boy had grown over the last year, he pulled himself up to the branch and carefully planted his feet into two crevices in the wall.

"Are you okay up there, boy?" His father called up to him; his, slightly pale, red hair pulled back in a messy way.

"I am okay! Is all the food for me?!" The boy called down in excitement as he asked his father, the man laughed at the kid, and then turned the chicken over to the fire pit.

"We will have a guest joining us." He said before turning back to the fire; the boy continued his climb.

The man coughed a little and covered his mouth with his hand, and when pulling his hand away found blood on it. He winced slightly, knowing that what he was doing now was the right choice to preserve his life and protect Natsu.

The man had become attached to the boy, feeling as though Natsu was his blood and flesh. But he was not a man; he was a beast to be feared by the rest of the world. He was the only dragon of his kind, and although there are many other dragons, they were not the same as him. Many were only of their kind that had done the same as he had planned to.

He wiped the hand on his rough cut pants, slightly sighing as he continued to roast the mass amount of chicken he had brought with him from his hunt.

Natsu watched as the wind changed direction, and then it changed again, and again. He looked around, feeling that the air was shifting due to magic. He became slightly alert, and like a wild animal he pounced to the floor and surveyed his surroundings.

Igneel had taught him to notice the change in the area, anything out of the ordinary was usually caused by magic. Natsu had learnt the hard way as his father taught his in the harshest way possible to detect the changes.

They had been in the clearing, where Natsu had broken through to a rank one earth element Mage, and his father lay hidden in the trees around the clearing. Natsu would have to defend and dodge his father's attacks, but his father would change something slightly in the area around him – if Natsu didn't notice in time, he'd end up in agony due to his father's attack.

Their training had become harder and harsher, but this only made Natsu stronger and wiser.

Soon a man descends from the far away crack in the ground, down into the depths of the cave. And Natsu watched in amazement as the man's cape blew upwards from him slow fall downwards. When the man came closer to the everlasting flame, Natsu could see that the man was bandaged and his hair was slightly long but didn't pass his shoulders.

It was almost the same colour as his fathers but was a little redder than his, and he could clearly see a sliver like armour on the man's body – he guessed that this is what protected the man from most blades that tried to pierce the man. He also had hair on his face, but that didn't stop the smirk that began to form on his lips from growing into a grin.

"It's been awhile, old friend." The man spoke, his voice rang in Natsu ears. He knew that this man was powerful and vigorous just from his voice.

"It has, Gildarts."

* * *

They found themselves seated on the floor, with furs from animals as their place.

Natsu tore into the roasted, succulent carcass of the chicken with vigour, eating up as much as he could to satisfy his big appetite. The two men ate rather slowly, looking at each other with a grave look from time to time, then laughing at the boy.

"Are you a deity like my father?" Natsu asked, staring wide-eyed at the man in front of him, his big grin plastered on his face.

"I am not a deity, although I am a saint," The bandaged man said, carefully looking at the boy who looked at him with astonishment, "I have fought many battles as a saint, and I met your father in one of those fights."

"Is that why you have all this white cloth on you?" The boy inquired again, feeling envious that this man had fought against beast and man, which was something he longed to do.

"These are bandages," Gildarts began, looking down at his bandages and unconsciously touching them, "I recently had them put on because I was injured in a battle with some Divians."

The boy showed his confusion, slightly tilting his head to the side, and said, "Divians?"

"They are the beasts that attacked us many moons ago," His father answered, patting the boy's salmon coloured head, "You should practice your magic now, maybe you will breakthrough. I have an inkling you are close."

The boy's eyes brightened up, and he showed his fanged grin to the two men before sprinting to a secluded area to being his meditations.

The two men watched the boy, who had eagerly sped away from the food, and then faced each other with the most serious of faces.

"You want me to take the boy?" Gildarts watched the man's eyes as they watched his son.

"I am dying, Gildarts," Igneel tore his eyes away from the child, who was now consumed in his training, "But the child must not find out what I am doing to preserve my life."

"How do you plan on preserving your life?" He eyed the man, a slight gleam in his eye as he asked.

"I plan on fusing my life with another man, who reached out to me. He is a deity, that much I can tell, and from his voice and his scent I can surely tell you that this man is that boy's father." Igneel spoke, a hint of hesitation in his voice as he reviewed his plan.

"Fusing your life?.." Gildarts trailed off, but suddenly his eyes widened, and his behaviour became irratic., "You are telling me that I must raise a boy who is from your human half? He will no doubt come looking for you, and I cannot stop him if he does."

"He must come looking for me; it is destined." Igneel's words were sharp – his decision is final.

The two sat, slightly glaring at each other, in silence. Gildarts moved his hands firmly to the front of his mouth and clasped them in front. He sighed, thinking of something to say in this awkward moment, but he had nothing.

Then a booming echo began.

The wind became harsh and violent. It was too strong for the young boy to stay in his position with, and he began to lift up into the air. Igneel became very alerted, and Gildarts rushed to the boy, grabbing hold of the boy's shirt and pulling him into the safety of his arms.

"Igneel, what the fuck is happening?" Gildarts yelled over the monstrous booming; his voice seemed to fade into the wind.

His voice died out before it could reach the draconic beast in his human form. Then, an ear-wrecking screech and crash sounded from out of nowhere, and in front of the boy's father, a black hole began to form.

It stretched and stretched, making enough space for a man of three meters to climb through. An arm emerged from inside, grabbing hold of the startled Igneel and pulling him forward towards the hole. But Igneel snapped back into reality.

He grabbed the man's arm, trying to twist it from the hold of his shirt, but it wouldn't budge. He then decided to release a saint level spell that would cause his hold body to erupt into flames, but the force and sheer power of the wind caused the flames to be eradicated.

Natsu did not see what happened. Next, his eyes had been covered by Gildart's cape. He tried to move it, but the wind kept pushing it back into his face, blocking his vision.

The wind became weaker and weaker – it stopped.

The cape fell from his face, and when he looked at where his father had been, all that was there was a pile of blood and a ripped shirt.

Natsu ran to the spot his father had just been stood, but he didn't make it to this place. He collapsed in emotional agony, his face streaming with tears. But these were not tears of pain; these were tears of anger.

"I will kill whoever did this, I swear it to you, father," The boy sobbed, his teeth clenched hard enough to make himself bleed.

Gildarts was still in shock, he had just seen his oldest friend taken from him, and now he would have to look after this friends son. He'd have to return home t his wife and daughter, and then explain how the boy was an orphan twice over.

He'd have to tell the boy that he was his birth father's last chance of being human, but he came out with magic surging through his body.

He'd have to tell the boy Igneel wasn't his father.

Natsu didn't know anything that had happened, and he knew he'd forget some of the time he had with his father, but he wouldn't forget the symbol he had seen on the man's arm before Igneel was taken from him. He will never know what his father needed to tell him when he was eight, but he knew one thing:

He wouldn't stop until the man who took his father was nothing more than a speck of unrecognisable dust.


	6. Chapter 6

**I foreshadowed in the last chapter, and I foreshadowed the breaking of my headphones:**

 **"I've had them for ages; they won't break."**

 **Five minutes later she (i.e. me) leaned slightly backward onto her bed** **– a great snapping was heard.**

 **"Shit!"**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 6: Three Years**_

* * *

He stood perched in a tree. He wore a shinobi foku to disguised himself in the night amongst the trees as he lay in wait, hoping that the boy would find him using magic and his wild senses.

Almost three years after the torturous event happened, Natsu had buried himself deep within his training. For three years he and Gildarts trained like mad men, against the wishes of Gildarts' wife and daughter, only stopping to make sure they were nourished. For three years, Natsu had engrossed himself with the thought of revenge, and it ate away at his mind every day.

Over the three years, Natsu had become a warrior of the third rank and increased his training intensity tenfold. Now, he ran around Gildarts' garden of his manor, which was three times the size of the cave, for several hours a day, and he used massive rocks that weighed more than 100kg to increase his body strength.

Gildarts expected that the boy would be ripped with muscles and taller than an average ten-year-old, but the boy was evenly toned and didn't look like he had much muscle. And, Natsu had just been above average for a ten-year-old boy, being 1.3 meters tall.

He'd also become a mage of the second rank, and he felt incredibly close to his next breakthrough.

His breakthrough to the second rank had occurred a year and a half later after his father was taken. The boy had been in the manor's spacious garden; his eyes closed softly in meditation. He focused on controlling his spiritual energy with the outside energy.

He asked Gildarts to set a flame in front of him, close enough so he could feel the heat it radiated – it reminded him of his father, and the heat that his father gave him, so loving and warm, yet harsh.

He brought the small red dots closer to his body, this time he'd focus on dispersing the flames on his hand and making them explode outwards like a gas canister too close to a fire. With the red dots completely engulfing his hand he punched outwards, his eyes closed tightly and his fist clenched enough to make himself bleed.

He felt the same sensation as he always did when he broke through, a sudden burst of energy and his body stopping for a moment.

The second rank!

Although he'd only broken through to the second rank with his fire element, he could feel the sensation of breaking through with his earth element coming. He hoped it would come soon, as the school his father wanted him to attend to gain magical knowledge would begin in two years.

To enter the school he didn't need to have even become a Mage of the first rank, the school kept students for thirty years – thirty years – so that they could attain rank six as a Mage. But he didn't have thirty years to save his father; he needed to be deity level now!

Gildarts sighed, wondering if the boy was even trying. Although Natsu had said, he'd do anything, even if it meant dying, to save his father, if he wasn't trying now he wouldn't be able to save his father now. Not even in a thousand years would he be able to.

Only recently did Natsu learn that Gildarts was a Ninja Saint and a Warrior Saint, and he immediately wanted to learn how to be a Ninja. But Gildarts harshly told him 'no' because he simply didn't have the power if he wasn't a highly skilled warrior.

But right now, in this ungodly forest, filled with trees that stood higher than most saints flew in the air, Natsu had been tasked with using his magic to find where Gildarts was hiding.

They had chosen five trees, each marked with a different shape – a square; a circle; an 'x' shape; a triangle, and a rectangle – and Gildarts would hide in one of these trees.

This did not use any of the magic that Natsu had already begun to learn, this was the magic that Igneel told him to ignore because it wasn't as strong as the others. This was Natsu wind magic. And, using this magic, he could survey the area using the wind as his guide.

It was, surprisingly to Natsu, very simple to use, but could be inaccurate at some times. The wind would be blocked by any shape in its path, but the wind would go through any gaps. Natsu would watch the green dots as they moved very gently, and he'd have to carefully look when there looked to be a human outlined by the wind in these five trees.

For example, a tree is very stable, so, therefore, the wind would move around it, and there would be no gaps for the air to squeeze between. But, for a human figure, it was completely different. They stood very naturally, and they'd be holes where the arms were not completely attached to the body. Here, the green dots would seep through like water.

The only downfall to this was that the area he could scan was relatively small, but Gildarts had told him it'd increase when he began to train more and break through in the air element magic.

They had been doing this training all morning, and Natsu knew this wouldn't help him break through, so he called out to Gildarts, "How will this help if it won't help me break through?"

Gildarts sighed, and like he'd teleported, he was in front of Natsu within a second.

"There is no point in powering an ability if you cannot use it, therefore you must train it," The red-haired man said, sounding more and more like Igneel as Natsu began to get used to the man, "It is like writing and speaking – you can learn a variety of words, but if you don't know how to use them, it is a waste."

"I'll try this time." The boy said, a fire filling his eyes.

Natsu had grown, not only physically, but mentally. His hair had grown, but with watching his father leave the boy lost much of his child-like ways. His eyes became dead and dull, but they held maturity and knowing.

They continued this training until Natsu knew where Gildarts' location was nineteen times out of twenty...

* * *

Gildarts pushed and shoved Natsu as they strolled back the manor.

Natsu wore shorts that were roughly cut above his knee, and he pulled over a cotton shirt, that had had its sleeves were cut off. Whereas Gildarts still wore his black shinobi foku, but without the cloth covering his head and mouth.

You would expect that a Ninja Saint, one of the hardest Saints to find on the continent, would be treated like royalty, living in a great house in a busy and flourished city. But places like that were not for Gildarts and his family, and they preferred the quite countryside.

It was still dark when they began to return to the manor, and the moon seemed to have shone brighter than the sun that day. The stars were like dim lights in the sky, holding memories of the night forever within them.

"You will need new boots soon, and then a proper outfit for the school you will attend," Gildarts broke the silence that lingered like death, and smiled at the young boy ruffling his hair, "I have to go into the city in six months, I have to visit the Hearfilia Conglomerate. But, for your hard work today, I feel it only right to treat you. I will be taking you with me."

"Really?" The brightness that filled the boy's eyes, even though only for a fleeting second, was undeniable, "What is it like? I will be past eleven-years-old when we go, too!"

A child's excitement could not hide in their eyes, and Gildarts knew this well and felt relieved when he saw the boy hadn't begun to hate everything.

Gildarts chortled, and he said, "It is rather large, and is filled to the brim with people bustling about the city. You will have the honor of meeting the head of the company. And, yes you will be, I will have to treat you with something."

"It does not sound like an honour," Natsu cooly said, playing it off like it was nothing, but he seemed excited at the 'treat' Gildarts was getting him, "He is probably one of those men who use their power to control and is corrupt, one's like Igneel told me about."

"This man was a friend of your father's and I," Gildarts laughed as the manor came into sight, "Run ahead, you are probably tired from today. Rest tomorrow – we will continue the day after."

The boy did as he was told, and soon his brown-haired wife came into sight. This family he had built was his pride and joy, and they had taken Natsu in as their own son; he couldn't have thanked his wife enough for allowing the orphan to be in their family, but in return, he agreed he wouldn't take a second wife. He was not planning on taking one anyway...

He kissed her forehead, smiling at his wife of twelve years, and said, "Hello."

"You did not tell him did you, dear?" His wife read him as though he were an open book, he sighed and allowed his wife to continue, "It was not your place to tell him in the first place – allow him to get stronger and find out the truth for himself."

"That is all I can do for now."

The candles in the house flickered out, and Natsu lay on a bed that was not made out of clothes. He'd never felt more out of place than he did here – this did not feel like home to him because Igneel wasn't here...

* * *

 **There needs to be more action... but it doesn't occur till later in the story...**

 **I love fights...**


	7. Chapter 7

" **There are many who are ahead of you; you are not the strongest, Natsu,"** **The Teachings of Igneel, 3:02. (That stands for third chapter: second half.)**

 **Yes, I'm making Igneel a book like the Bible. Is that offensive?**

 **Probably.**

 **My apologies for all that take offence to the above statement, I am only running out of content to write.**

 **Happy, the cat, isn't Happy in this** **– just... just read it and find out.**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 7: The Comrade**_

* * *

The sun had just rose among the peak of the tallest mountain. They sky, which had once been painted with golds, yellows and oranges, was now a bright blue colour, with small, white stains for clouds.

Natsu had already finished his training for today, and at the request of Cornelia, the woman who looked after him and was Gildarts' wife, Natsu didn't over train himself. Instead, he sat close to the house, his legs sticking out of the rails, as he watched Gildarts teach his daughter to break through as a Ninja.

It was relatively straight to say that he was bored. His mouth was turned downwards slightly, and his eyes were very dull and colourless; he was slouched like he had fallen asleep against a tree and his feet looked like stones on the ends of his legs.

He felt like a caged bird in the house, and outside in the garden felt the same. He wings had been clipped ever since he came to Gildarts' home.

He watched as Gildarts threw a small knife, smaller than Natsu's hand, towards a small target on the side of a tree. He wondered how the knife would ever hit the target on the tree because Gildarts could not control the air and had no power to physically turn the knife – it seemed rather impossible.

He watched as the knife as it slashed trough the air like a needle, and ever so slightly he saw the four pointed knife turn. It turned very slowly and gradually made its way towards the target on the side of the tree. The turn was such a delayed reaction that Natsu couldn't help but feel that Gildarts had used some magic on it.

He watched, awestruck, as the grey throwing knife sunk into the centre of the target, firmly planting itself into the wood.

Now it was Cana's turn.

Cana was particularly small to Natsu, but Natsu hadn't met any other girls apart from Cana and her mother. They both look very similar, almost like they were twins if it wasn't for the massive age gap. Both had brown hair that was silky and smooth, and both had blue eyes, that were hinted with purple slightly. Although they were both different – Cana's mother was a proper lady, she had no need for violence and the like, but Cana adores those things.

He watched as the girl through the throwing knife with vigour, and it spun, cutting through the air like a hot knife with a whistling sound. It turned a little, but not enough and fell short of the target, and the knife plunged into the dirt.

He watched as Gildarts applauded Cana, although she hadn't gotten it perfect, and he thought back to when he had trained with Igneel.

 _"I cannot do it," Panting, the boy said, as sweat dribbled down his face like water, "It is simply too hard to do."_

 _"Nothing is too hard to do, my boy," The man bellowed, as he chugged down a handful of water from the crystal lake, "You simply need to hone one's body – be_ _in control, don't let it control you."_

 _That noon the sun had been beating down on the boy and his father like a drum, and it played them aggressively with its constant teasing. There was no breeze, and there were no clouds. It would have been a perfect day to simply run among the trees, but his father insisted they should train._

 _And like an obidient pet, Natsu obliged._

 _His father was teaching him harshly, trying to help the boy breakthrough with different techniques. In the sweltering heat, Natsu found them hard to do, and he lost his concentration when the sun began to vanish and reappear again._

 _But he had dedication, and he was a fire ready to burn wildly._

 _He focused extremely hard, just trying to move the flame his father had put in front of him a little bit. His eyes were closed tightly, and his fists were clenched into tiny, tight balls_ _– the flame suddenly moved._

 _Igneel rose to his feet, and placed his hand on the boy's head, ruffling the salmon locks with a large smile on his face. Natsu looked up at him and grinned widely back._

 _"Well done, son." And he handed Natsu a pouch with well-earned water inside._

Natsu rubbed his eyes a little, smiling meekly at the memory, and then glaring at the floor in front of him, revenge filling his mind. He wanted to take the man who took his father and rip him, like he was paper, into a thousand pieces.

"You must be bored sitting in the garden like this, my dear," The salmon-haired boy looks to see Gildarts' wife smiling sweetly at him, "In the back garden of the manor there is an old building, and underneath it, there's something very mysterious. I was going to have Gildarts look at it, but alas he is busy. Would you mind taking a look, Natsu?"

He could tell from the dust that covered the woman that she had just been into the abandoned building, and he couldn't help but feel a twinge of excitement at this short adventure. He nodded his head roughly and sharply like he wanted to give himself whiplash, and pulled his legs out from the railing.

He followed the woman through the grand house. The wooden walls and stone structure of the building was something Natsu hadn't seen before until he came here three years ago, he still found it surprising and new whenever he clearly looked at it.

The walk was short-lived as they walked out the wide doors and out into a slightly smaller garden area. Natsu saw, stood on its own, at the back was a medium sized wooden shack.

There were vines creeping up the walls, and some had seeped in through the cracks curling around and around till they reached the roof. Some areas of the wood had become damp and rotten and looked rather unsafe, and unhygienic, to live in.

He sprinted ahead of the woman, opening the door for her to come through. She smiled kindly at him, and then pointed to some stairs and said, "I found it just down there, it is rather dark so be sure to take a torch with you." And she gestured towards a stick that was lit on the wall.

"I will stay here and help you before I look at it." Natsu smiled and then frowned as he looked at all the dirt and books.

* * *

He clapped his hands together, watching as the dirt flew off of them.

In two separate piles on the floor, they had ruined and unneeded books, and a stack of scroll books and spell books. The, far off to the side, was a bunch of things that they had found that were not books or manuscripts, but little concoctions that Gildarts would need to look at. These three, huge piles towered over both Natsu and Cornelia and had taken them past dinner to make.

Natsu bounded towards the stairs, grabbing the torch on the way, and then quickly made his way down them.

When he arrived there were seven points of the floor, that were all connected to one singular point in the middle. In the middle lay large inscriptions on the floor that were written in characters he didn't recognise, but he could read them.

 _'Blue Pather Blood Seal.'_

Natsu guessed that the only way for the blood seal to be broken was through binding it with his own blood, and for his childish heart and mind, this was quite a thrill. He picked up the nearest sharp stone he could find and began to walk aimlessly to the centre of the formation.

He stepped over the lines, looking around carefully as he did so until reaching the center of the composition. And very carefully, he made a gash that lightly penetrated his skin, drawing the oozing red liquid to the surface.

He turned his hand to the side, and then squeeze his fingers into a ball, and watched as a drop of blood fell like a stone onto the seal.

Nothing happened, at first, but the a bright, but small, blinding light appear. In that light was a cat-like creature, but looked more and more fierce as it grew. The light became dim in the room, and all that was left was a small, cute-looking, kitty.

Erratic footsteps could be heard rushing down the steps, and when they reached the bottom, Gildarts looked frantically at the torch on the floor, and at Natsu, and at the cat creature.

The small animal had a blue pelt of fur, and could seemingly adjust its size as it made its tail grow smaller and larger.

"That is a very dangerous magical beast, although just a baby of the first rank," Gildarts said, sweat dripping down his face, "And you just made a blood bond with it," He came dangerously close to Natsu, "You idiot!" And swatted him on the head.

"I do not understand what is wrong, I read the characters on the floor and thought this is what I had to do." Natsu winced, rubbing the lump that had began to form on his head.

"This is a Blue Panther, and without help, it naturally becomes a deity levelled beast, like Igneel. And like Igneel also, it is the only one of its kind," Sitting on the floor, crossed-legged in rough cut shorts, Gildarts sighed as he spoke, "I was tasked with keeping it hidden and imprisoned in that seal I had Igneel make for me. But now, it appears, that you have entered a bond of equals. So I task you with keeping the beast safe."

"Can I name him?" His wide eyes, shining like the brightest light in the world made Gildarts become at ease.

"I have no idea how fast the beast will grow, and I know very little about it. Igneel told me what I am telling you," The man chortled, and then continued his lesson, "He will be able to talk to you mentally later on in its life, but for now it is like a newborn child. It will be able to change it's complete form when it is of the seventh rank and can become a full Blue Panther."

"I am calling him Happy!" Natsu yelled in glee, picking up the blue creature and placing it on his shoulder.

"You are naming a legendary magical beast 'Happy'?!"

* * *

 **Told you Happy isn't the same...**


	8. Chapter 8

**I just want him to be fucking sixteen already, the action shit happens then! But the important shit, like the actual pendant, happens in his childhood!**

 **Only three more chapters till he's twelve then stuffs happens.**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 8: Back to Where it Began**_

* * *

The sky had been the like the clearest of glass the morning of Natsu's birthday. The sun was glaring down on the ground, beating it with its unbearable heat.

It made sense that Natsu had been born in summer, but he much preferred the cold weather as it lowered his body temperature. To stop his forehead from over heating he had to wear a piece of cloth to tie his hair back, so you could only see his salmon locks from behind him.

Sat outside, the boy felt cradled by the blanket of light that came from the bright sun, but he was not in the manor garden. And, with not being confined to a small space, or at least that is what it felt like to him, he felt more at home than he had felt before.

This was the first time Natsu had run off from home and escaped into the wilderness. And he brought Happy with him.

The cat-like creature wouldn't leave him alone. It slept with him; ate with him; followed him, and trained with him. For the first time in almost four years, and for the first time in an eternity, Natsu had made a friend, although it wasn't human.

"You are not a panther, you are too small and fluffy to be one." Natsu laughed, slightly rocking backwards and forwards.

The cat-like creature, Happy, simply mewed in response, and then expanded and shortened its tail as it tried to show off. Happy had grown in size a little over the five months Natsu had had him, but Natsu hadn't had any mental messages like Gildarts said would happen. It'd be even longer before anyone else could hear Happy's voice too because he could only physically speak when he became deity levelled.

"I wonder who your mother is, Happy," Natsu sighed, falling backwards onto the soft grass, one arm fell limp onto the group beside him, while the other reached out towards the sun, "I was raised by my father alone, I never had a mother and they are needed to have children. They are the life that births the child."

The small, blue-furred, creature pounced onto its master and began to claw at Natsu cotton, ripped shirt; beginning to hiss and stand rigid, Natsu knew something was wrong.

He reached sat up, reaching towards the hem of his rough cut pants. He felt rather pleased that he had got his hands on a couple of the knives Cana used to train with, they were sharp and light, some had holes in them, whereas others were solid structures.

He began to use the wind, closing his eyes as he surveyed his grassy and vibrant surrounding. Amongst some tall grass, there was something blocking the wind from moving. He clasped on a knife.

"Whomever is lurking in the grass, come out," Natsu commanded, his nerves becoming like steel, "If not, I shall burn you out."

Remembering clearly that he was a fire Mage of the third rank as of a month ago, this meant that he could now use a mediocre spell he had taught himself. He still hadn't broken through to the second rank of an earth element user, but he was making quick progress as a fire Mage.

"I guess you have chosen the latter of the options." Natsu fist was engulfed by a bright flame, and he moved it into a small ball on his hand.

Thrusting outwards with precision and strength, like a ball from a cannon, he set the grass where the intruder was hiding on fire. It began to burn in bright flames, crackling and flickering slightly causing the mysterious figure to jump out.

He sighed, watching as a small girl patted out the fire on her clothes. She looked like a rich man's daughter, as she wore lots of jewels around her neck, and her dress was flashy and bright. He was unimpressed by this girl and found it slightly annoying she was spying on him.

"This isn't a place for a girl, especially not of your stature." Natsu made a sound of annoyance as he spoke, taking his seat on the ground again.

The girl stood from her kneeling position, watching the fire burn on, and pushing her white hair behind her ear said, "I am visiting my friend, and her father, and I am going to tell father a peasant boy set me on fire."

"Be my guest," He said, waving off her hollow threat with a yawn of boredom, "You were the one lurking in the grass, and I assumed you were a threat when you did not come from the grass."

He stood, walking to the flame and putting his hand into it. The girl watched in horror and then tried to pull his hand out of the flame. When it finally left the bright, red flames it came out unscathed.

"You should stay here, a man who I treat as my father will think it my signal flare and come find you," Natsu began playing with a flame in one hand, then watched as the flame engulfed the knife in his hand. A flaming knife would make a good weapon, "Bye."

"Marry me!" The girl yelled, her face flushed a little, "I also want to become a Mage, if we were to marry we would be very powerful. Like a prince and a princess."

"I'd rather have someone who relies on me, and I can protect them like a dragon," Natsu chortled, blowing out the flames on his knife, "When that man comes, tell him I will not be home for a few days, and if he comes with a girl, my sister, tell her I took her knives."

He waved slightly, then disappeared amongst the trees.

* * *

The sun had begun to set, and a black dust began to settle on the sky.

He had finally found it.

He had run all day, following a familiar path that Gildarts had led him on. He remembered it vividly as that was the same day his father had been taken from him, he was going to train there and break through as an earth Mage.

He looked down into the homey abyss, slightly smiling as a single tear fell from his face. It fell down into the cave; down to his home. And he followed it, lowering himself down onto the rocky wall, and he began to descend into the place that had been home for the beginning of his life.

Climbing down the rocky walls took, what felt like the longest time to Natsu, about half an hour, he hadn't even reached the bottom of the wall when he jumped off the wall. He felt his feet land firmly on the ground and looked around in the dark.

His eyes began to adjust to the darkness of the cave, but Natsu created a small flame on a stick. He looked around at all the clothes on the floor, then dumped them on top to feed the fire.

"I'm home, father." He looked aimlessly around, taking in everything about the cave. He never noticed how small it had been, to his younger self this place could have been a maze.

The blood stain from when his father was taken from him has washed away. He walked over to the floor where his father was taken, standing in the same spot, and closed his eyes.

But, something didn't feel right. There was a lot of spiritual energy coming from around him.

He twisted and turned, looking to the sides of himself but there was nothing there. Then he turned around, and there, lying untouched, was his father's last scale, the scale that would allow the amount of spiritual energy used to be almost halved so that one could cast more spells.

He picked it up, clutching it closely to himself, and then, with a burning look in his onyx eyes, he ripped off his shirt, pulling off the soft hem on it. He had begun to thread it through one of the cracks on the scale, as it was like a thin piece of string, and then wrapped it around his neck.

He walked to his makeshift bed, the next morning he would train. The more he trained, the sooner he could save his father...


	9. Chapter 9

**It's been a long night, and this service sucks and my messages can't be sent – Set it off - Missing You**

 **I have nothing to write so I'll suggest songs!**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 9: The Breakthrough and The Finding**_

* * *

It was early morning when Natsu woke up, not in his grand bed at the manor, but on the clothes of the dead in a cave. The cave that he once lived in for the beginning of his life with his father, who had been taken from him – ripped from him like a band-aid. His back was painful and his arm hurt whenever he moved it and he knew it was because he wasn't used to it.

The fire that had been burning all night had gone out, maybe it was early this morning it had extinguished as it was still slightly warm. The cave had no breeze inside, and it made sense because when summer came it was always hot in the cave, and Natsu found it hard to breathe a little.

He began his running, a run that he hadn't done for an eternity in this cave, knowing well that he would be running for hours in the tiny, heated cave. His feet tapped on the ground, causing an echo as he ran. He made his footsteps heavier and lighter, trying to get a loud echo and then a little one.

After his run, he walked over to the weight his father had made for him, it was lying on the floor, untouched. He had forgotten the last time he had picked up this weight; he had forgotten the last time he had ever used it.

He let the image of his father being taken flood his mind. This gave him an unwavering determination.

He didn't use the weight, he didn't have the time. He knew Gildarts would come for him and that the man already knew where he was, just not what he was doing. Just this once, for the first, and last, time in his life, he would train where his father did.

He felt inhuman sitting in his father's training spot, he felt like a God, or a Saint ranked person or beast. His father's training spot was right in the centre of the cave, there was nothing around him.

 _'My father said that to break through to the second rank I would have to understand the earth, but the earth is vast and to understand it all would take years. Maybe there was a second meaning to what he said.'_ Natsu pondered to himself, slightly sulking as he came up with futile ideas.

He had nobody to guide him, and no one to teach him how to think for himself, and self-teaching himself things like how to think for himself when someone was always holding his hand through it, made things a little hard.

 _'Understand the earth...'_ He said to himself, and soon it became his mantra. After an hour the boy's face had become more scrunched and his frown had seeped further down his face until he had a mental breakthrough.

 _'Maybe it is similar to the moment in the forest, but this time understand how it works and moves!'_

The boy began meditating immediately, which would train his spiritual energy and the earth element magic in his veins. His legs were crossed, and his back was ramrod straight. His eyes were fluttering slightly, and his mouth had turned from a frown into a straight line, with his hands firmly planted on his knees.

He watched the brown dots closely, at first they seemed very still and hard, never moving from a fixed spot unless Natsu willed them to. But, if he paid close attention enough, he could see that they faintly moved.

The vibrated slightly and seemed to grow a little bigger and a little smaller, which would go unnoticed to someone who wanted to use the earth as a defence. He focused on the dots, watching them move. They were alive.

He would now have to try something, something he has never tried before, using this new piece of information. He opened up his eyes, scratching his neck as he wondered what to do.

 _'I could try to see if I could expand them myself, but that would just be like the small spikes I created with my father. Maybe I could try splitting them and thinning them out to make a larger surface area. With this, I could create cracks in the earth that someone could fall into.'_

Natsu had never been taught how magic worked, only that he could use it at his disposal. But he knew this: If at rank three he can use certain spells that required a certain element to be near him, then the earth spells were that. But he had seen Igneel create a fire without having fire around him.

He could use spells as a rank three fire Mage now, but he could create fire when there was no fire around him, and he wanted to know how he did this. But at this moment he wanted to break through to the second rank as an earth Mage.

 _'I shall use this information to learn how the earth defence spells will work, as I already know attack. Then this will allow me to only need to meditate to break through to the third rank.'_

He closed his eyes, moving the little brown dots towards himself, he then split them apart equally. The raising them out of the ground, he placed them on his chest, like the chest plate for a piece of armour. Instead of crumbling like it did last time, it solidified on his chest. If someone were to poke him it would probably chip, and a punch would break it completely, but it worked.

He felt the energy he felt every time he broke through, but this time it was an uncontrollable burst of energy. The ground began to shake; rocks from the side of the wall began to tumble down like boulders and rained on Natsu.

It lasted a few second, but once it was finished, dust covered Natsu from head to toe. He coughed a little from the dust he inhaled and rubbed his eyes so that he could see clearly...

* * *

He trudged around the room, salvaging different objects, like the bags his father made. Most of the bags were empty, but there was a small pouch with different magical beast crystals in it, and a large one with a change of clothes.

He wore these two, the large one went around his bare chest and hung on his side, made from a black leather, and the pouch hung from his hip on the other side. The pouch came with a thin belt, and it had other hoops on it, so taking the knives that were lodged in the hem of his trousers, he placed them onto the belt.

He looked around once more, a crack catching his attention. He must have opened it up with the burst of energy that came to him; he felt intrigued by the hollow opening as no other holes had opened up in the cave.

He walked towards it, kneeling down near the crack to see if he could peer into it. It was extremely dark, and so using is finger as a torch, he lit a small fire on the tip of it. Moving his hand towards the inside of the crack, he could faintly see a box.

Natsu had never seen his father with a box, and he didn't know why it was in the wall of the cave, but he wanted to know what was in the box.

He put out the flame on his finger, and then reached into the darkness, grasping onto the side of the box that was cold to the touch. He shuddered, feeling the cool, smooth metal in the palm of his rough, hot hand.

He pulled the box out, and it was extremely long, he measured it against himself. It must have been up to a meter long, against Natsu who was 1.3 meters in height. Even though the box was bigger than him, he still wanted to take it but he wouldn't be able to with its height.

He opened the box, praying that whatever was in it was smaller than him. But to his surprise when he opened it he found two sheaths and a sword. The sheaths were both as black as night, and one was on the side of a person but was only like a holder.

The sheath that would go at a person side was only half of the sword in size and the other half was cut off meaning the sword would be exposed on the other side. The other sheath was to be put on a person cheat like a cross, one strap going diagonally one way, and the other one the opposite, and held the full sword.

He took off his bag, placing the side sheath inside, and putting the other one on. Then he looked at the sword.

It was black down the middle, and the blackness stretch all the way to the tip of the sword, following its form. The edges of the sword were a silver and red mixture, bu the handle is what caught Natsu attention the most.

The handle and the cross section of the blade were made from black scales, but the cross section seemed to have a dragon's head on it, with jade green eyes. He picked it up, feeling the hefty weight of the sword, he could barely pick it up but it seemed to be the size of a normal sword.

Being a warrior of the third rank, Natsu could pick up anything more than 100kg, but this sword weighed more.

Suddenly the dragon's mouth clapped down on Natsu hand and he yelled in agony. The dragon continued to crush Natsu hand in it unbreakable jaws, whilst Natsu scream in horror, shock, and pain; his face dripping in painful sweat.

He felt the dragon pumped something into his veins, causing him an excruciating pain.

The dragon stopped. Happy, who had been asleep until Natsu's screaming, came to his master, hissing with a rigid back.

"I am apart of you now, child," A rough voice sounded, but he couldn't find a person in sight and they sounded very close, "I am in your head like your beast will be when it can speak with you. I am the dragon of life and death, Dezeus, I was once used by Igneel, the dragon of fire, and now I am bound to you, human, I suggest you do not listen to my next command, or I will consume you. Sleep now, child."

Natsu sheathed the sword, still hearing it's words telling him to sleep. But he refused – he felt like something dangerous would happen if he fell asleep now, he had to be strong and get home.

He began to climb the rock wall, feeling as though it was much easier now. He managed to get to the top quickly, feeling his head getting lighter and lighter, but it still felt like a building had collapsed on him.

"I am testing your spiritual energy, child if you fall asleep now I will take your life energy and kill you." The deep voice chortled, this caused Natsu to become even more headstrong.

He began to run through the forest, a rustling following him, there was a beast almost the same speed as him. With his speed, they would be out of the forest soon and he would be able to see the manor house about an hour after that if he could get the beast to a clearing he wouldn't risk burning down the whole forest down.

He jumped out of the forest, the beast next to him jumping out as well.

"A Vaglur?" Natsu questioned aloud.

A Valgur was a beast that could reach the ninth rank through its years without any need of consuming other beasts cores. It was a dog-like beast, with a large upper body and powerful scratches from its long, sharp, needle-like, claws. It seemed to be just a Valgur of the third rank, so Natsu and the beast would be even in battle.

He pulled out the sword with both of his hands while chanting a short spell. The beast pounced before Natsu had finished, but he was prepared and swung the sword towards the beast, feeling his head become heavy from the need to sleep.

 _'Do not fall asleep. Dezeus will consume me.'_

He finished his spell, and dropping the sword into one hand, he shot out a large fireball with the other, hitting the beast in the face with the ball of flames. The beast winced in pain as its face slowly melted away, and shortly after the beast pounced again.

Natsu wasn't prepared this time and simply raised his sword, the beast plunged onto the sword and stopped moving. Natsu had had a stroke of luck.

He rolled the beast off of him and then sheathed the sword. He ran; he ran so fast and so far that his legs burned and he began to feel out of breath, but his house was in sight.

"Gildarts!" He yelled, screaming for Gildarts as hard as he could. He yelled so hard that his throat burned and his ears burst from the noise.

As he came closer he saw many heads turned towards him, including some white-haired heads. He fell at the feet of the man who treated him as his son, blood dripping from his eyes.

"Only a little bit more, child," Dezeus' voice rang clearly in his head, a slight tinge of sympathy in his voice, "If you stay awake for another minute I shall tell you stories of Igneel, he spoke highly of you before he passed."

"Natsu, what is wrong?" Gildarts spoke, but Natsu could only shake his head in pain from the heaviness of this energy.

Natsu lifted his head, watching as Gildarts picked him up and the people that had been with im looked dumbfounded at what was happening.

"What is happening to Natsu, father?" Cana asked, worried for the boy she called her brother.

"A heavy energy is pushing his spiritual energy."

Natsu passed out...


	10. Chapter 10

**Anyone like the last chapter?**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 10: Twelve**_

* * *

Natsu looked at the blackness before him, it was scattered with little white dots.

"You did good boy, I cannot tell if Igneel already tested your spiritual energy but if he did his test was wrong." Natsu saw a tall, well-built man with black hair before him.

"My father's test could not have been wrong." Natsu argued back, feeling his body being enveloped with a light heat.

"I shall tell you what I found during your test," The man said, slightly laughing at the boy who was confused, "I found that you have a spiritual energy 62x the average human, which tells me that you were not born from two average Mages. It also told me that you have great physical and mental strength, that higher than a sixth rank warrior, so I can only imagine what you will be like as a saint warrior. You have amazing control on the elements you know."

"Who are you?" Natus asked, slightly shocked by what the man was saying, "You are not who you say you are."

The man chortled, and said, "Quite right, I am actually an OverGod. I am the OverGod, Dezeus, I am the OverGod of destruction."

Natsu looked on slightly, his eyes held confusion but he didn't inquire what an OverGod was, or what they did, instead, he asked, "How long have I been here?"

"Almost a month. But I have more to talk to you about, so I cannot let you go just yet, Natsu Dragneel," The man gestured for Natsu to come closer, and he did so. The man continued, "There are more than just the four Magic you have been told about in this world. There are the four main elements and the lightness and darkness magic. After that, there are the three rarest, Life Magic; Necromantic Magic, and Destruction Magic."

The man took a breath, and then looked at Natsu who was taking all this in, he then continued, "All these have high requirements when it comes to the soul of one's self. They required the purest of souls, and require the soul to be of a certain shape. For my Magic, the soul is required to be the shape of a great battle axe; I do not care about the other ones. You shall wake up soon, but whenever you need to talk to me just call, child."

Natsu felt himself being pulled from the strange place, and the light of his room flooded into his vision, blinding him a little.

Around him was multiple chairs, and he lay in a bed. This was the infirmary room of the house, he only knew this because he had wondered in here two years ago whilst looking for Gildarts.

He groaned slightly, lifting himself up. He watched as Cana and her white-haired friend turned their heads towards him, he gave them a meek smile and Cana sprung forward onto the bed. She did not hug him, instead, she gave him her meanest look and scolded him.

"Mama and papa were worried about you, and papa did not want to leave but he had to go see Mr Heartfilia, so mama has been looking after you every day." She stared at him with her cold eyes, but he just blinked at her, feigning innocence.

"Sorry, sorry," He said, waving her off as he looked around beside him, "Where did mama or papa put the sword that was on my back, I need it."

"You mean the thing on your back? Papa put it in his room and locked the door." She answered, Natsu cursed under his breath then threw off the bed sheets.

The white haired looked on in shock, Natsu, who was shirtless, was the boy she had met in the forest - the boy who had rejected her proposal. Natsu seemed to notice her too but didn't care much.

Instead, Natsu put on his black, rough cut trousers that had been left out for him, and slipped on his black boots. The taking his cotton shirt over his head, he sighed, and said, "Sorry to have worried you, little sister."

He patted her head affectionately, before looking at the white-haired girl, she was first to address him and yelled, "How dare you reject me!"

"Who asks someone they hardly know to become their lover, it is stupid and foolish," Natsu gave a cold stare to the white haired girl, not caring if he was cold-hearted or not, "Now because you have asked me once I shall never marry you because the male is meant to ask, what man would date a woman who wants to have dominance."

Cornelia walked into the room with a bucket of water and cloth, only to see Natsu holding the white head of a girl who tried to punch him. He looked stronger and more mature than he did before, but still boyish and wild. He would never lose his wild side.

She placed the bucket on the floor, producing a loud 'thunk' sound, which stopped all the children from playing around. She gave a small chuckle at their reactions, before embracing Cana and Natsu.

"It is very hard for me to believe that next year you will both be half the continent away from here. Natsu will be attending Fiore Institute for Mage's, and you will be going to Sabertooth Institute for Ninja," She said, smiling sadly, "I hope you grow in the two years you are away from us Cana, and for Natsu, I hope you will come back to us after three years or so, so that I can see how powerful of a Mage you become."

"By then I'll be a powerful Mage of the sixth rank, if I am not I won't come back till then." Determination filled his eyes, and his voice was clear and unwavering.

"It takes Mages thirty years after joining the school to reach the sixth rank, you will not make it when you enter. Come back and visit when you are sixteen." Cornelia asked, slightly taken aback.

Natsu knew that it might take him thirty years, but he wanted to kill the man who took his father, he would stop at nothing to get his revenge...

* * *

 _One year later..._

Natsu had grown. Now standing at 1.5 meters, he was taller than an average boy of his age, and he had filled out well. His muscles were starting to come through, and his arms were no longer scrawny like they had been before, but now had become ripped with birthing muscles.

He had had his hair cut again, it had become long, up to his shoulders in length, and then he had Cornelia cut it for him to a short length. His face had matured a little, no longer as boyish and cute as it had been before, and his chest was rock solid, like punching a brick wall.

He hadn't made any breakthrough's, he didn't feel like he was even close to becoming a warrior of the fourth rank. He hadn't made any progress as a Mage of the fire and earth elements, although he had a hunch on how to become an earth Mage of the third rank, and he had been meditating non-stop to break through as a fire Mage, he had managed to break through twice as a Mage of the air elements.

The first three ranks were considered among the hardest of ranks to break through on, the element wielder, the Mage, would have to learn the very basic fundamentals of the element before being able to progress. For a warrior, their training would need to be increased to face the harsh needs to breakthrough to the next rank. But, the gap from being a sixth rank Mage to a seventh rank Mage was considered the hardest of the main nine rankings.

For a Mage, the jump from a sixth rank to a seventh rank consisted of changing their spiritual energy from a gas-like substance that moved freely around the body, to a liquid. The liquidation of spiritual energy. As for a warrior, this was the time they would need to train the most to strengthen their souls. Both are requirements of Mages and warriors to be able to become a Saint if they can break through. After the nine stages, that were ranked in numbers, the next rank would be Saint, and this was split into three separate ranks, and then deity.

Natsu felt trapped in the clothes Gildarts had told him to wear. It consisted of a long-sleeve, buttonless, black shirt, and over the top of that was a sleeveless jacket that didn't button up, which had a hood on the back., the whole thing was blue, with a silver lining. The sleeves were odd because they went bellow his rib cage, and dropped down at the hem of his black pants. These were made of black cotton, and tucked into his black boots.

He could move freely in it, he tried out multiple kicks and jumps and even scaled the side of the manor before deeming it okay to wear, but he did not like the jacket. Gildarts told him that this is what young warriors wore when they were not training or fighting, and they would fight without the jacket on.

Natsu hadn't the long sleeves on the shirt, but Gildarts wouldn't allow him to cut the damn things off, so instead, Cornelia rolled them up for him.

"When you are older and are taller, this will look good on you. But as of now, you are a handsome young man," As she rolled up his sleeves, she spoke softly to him, her eyes glanced across the boy's arms, "You are growing some muscles, I see here. I cannot wait to see how handsome you are when you are older, my son will able to swoon any lady, as he already swooned Lisanna."

She giggled a little at his face, which had been struck by thunder, and he said, "Lisanna is not my type, I want someone that will help me take revenge, not need saving."

Cornelia hummed in response, ruffling his salmon locks, and straightening out his jacket, "Go put your belt on, and your sword," She shooed him off to the other side of his room, it would be the last time he stayed here, "Remember you are only getting yourself tested to go in today, Gildarts will stay with you in your hotel for the month as the school prepares to open."

"If I get in." Natsu pouted, slightly worried he wouldn't be good enough for the school.

When he placed on his sword on his back, which no longer made a cross but instead hung diagonally, he awoke Dezeus who simply responded in his mind, "'If', child you have more talent in your pinky finger than those teachers hold in their hold bodies," Natsu inwardly laughed, he'd taken a liking to Dezeus, who he found to be stubborn and ignorant, yet wise and intelligent, "You show them how high your spiritual energy is, and they shall take you in with open arms."

"I'm sure..." Cornelia began as she began packing Natsu's bag, "That you have some high affinity for magic like your fire element could be high, and your earth element could be average."

"Average!" Dezeus roared, feeling like his master had been slightly offended, "You have an exceptional affinity level for all three of your elements!"

Natsu smiled at Cornelia, before taking his bag from her and thanking for all that she had done for him. He then ran outside to the two separate carriages, one for Cornelia and Cana, and one for Gildarts and Natsu. He watched as Cana stepped out of the carriage and jumped on him, hugging him slightly.

"Thank you, for being my brother, Natsu." Cana said strongly into his shoulder, not allowing her tears to spill.

"Ninja do not cry, sister." They said their goodbyes, and then Natsu hopped into the carriage Gildarts was in with excitement.

The carriage sped off down the dirt roads, heading towards the main capital, Magnolia...


	11. Chapter 11

**I try to update weekly... Yes – I'm telling you just now, ten weeks after I began the story...**

 **P.S. Watch** ** _Boruto: The Next Generation_**

* * *

 ** _Chapter 11: The Testing_**

* * *

The carriage was pulled along the dirt road by a jet black horse. The sun glared down on the life-filled land, as the horse's hooves trampled small rocks; they crumbled beneath the horse's hooves, creating a very fine dust that settled to the floor within seconds.

Natsu looked out of the side of the carriage, watching as the vast trees and houses sped past him, all of the greens from the trees and the browns from the houses, merging together to make a very dirt-green colour. Occasionally, when there was a turn in the road, the horse would slow down, allowing him to see busy workers in small townships and villages, and rarely the horse stopped for Natsu and Gildarts to drink and eat.

Time was a thief. Natsu wanted to gaze upon the places they passed even more; he wanted to look at the villages in even more detail, but he couldn't because they needed to get to the capital quickly. When they had left the manor it had been morning, and Gildarts informed Natsu they were only half way to the capital – there would be no more breaks.

It was now noon, and the carriage sped on like lightning striking metal. The horse was ushered to move quicker, and as night began to set in Natsu found it hard to see outside the carriage window anymore. Instead, he patted his blue-furred friend, who purred back in delight, and tried to communicate mentally with the cat-like. All he had gotten so far was 'Aye!' every time he had spoken to the creature.

"It is no use, you may as well talk to a wall than the beast," Dezeus' deep voice made Natsu shudder a little – he still wasn't used to the random talking that came from the alive sword, "I, on the other hand, am far more capable of talking to you mentally – it comes with years of practice. If I may, but this test will be testing what your father and I did already. I suggest going all out with your spiritual energy, do not let them take you lightly. I increased the pressure of the spiritual field every ten seconds, and you lasted more than an hour – better than you father."

Natsu hummed in response, but he didn't take much interest. He wanted to know why he hadn't progressed as a warrior. He decided to ask Dezeus if he knew the answer; he spoke mentally to him, "Why can I not break through as a warrior of the third rank? I continue my daily exercise, but nothing seems to be happening."

"Hm," Dezeus hummed, seemingly in a thoughtful manner, "Do you know of the basic battle qi stance? It allows warriors to become one with nature, taking in the natural energies and turning it into qi, also known as Chi, to make one's body stronger. The natural energies are brought into your body, and then you train it with the basic warrior training, which then allows you to break through."

Natsu was rather at awe of Dezeus knowledge, he seemed to know the answer to all of Natsu's questions, but could not show him how to do certain things due to him not having a physical form. Sometimes he wondered how Dezeus had been captured in the sword, being an OverGod, it should have been near impossible.

"Why do I need battle qi for being strong physically?" Natsu inquired to the sword, which he held in both hands in the sheath now, "Surely I just need to train my body every day."

"Imagine battle qi as your stamina, after awhile you run out of your given stamina – it depletes. There is only a certain point you can train to before you need battle qi to help you progress and break through, like your stamina when you are running," Dezeus explained simply, hoping the boy would grasp the concept that he gave Natsu, "You then train that energy that you gained, and thus break through to the next rank."

The carriage came to an abrupt stop, sending Natsu flying forwards. He flew straight into the thick, wooden wall in front of him, smacking his face and shoulder off of the golden, brown wall. He heard some muffled speaking outside and looked to Gildarts, wondering if he knew what was happening. Apparently, he did know, he just didn't expect the carriage to jerk to a stop because he was almost on the floor of the carriage too.

"They are just checking the carriage driver so that we can enter the city," straightening himself out, Gildarts assured Natsu, then sat back in his seat, "Then he will take us to the hotel and we will sleep, the next day we go to your testing."

"How famous are you in the capital?" Natsu asked, knowing that Gildarts came here to see the King, and to see the head of the Hearfillia Conglomerate, "You must be well-known and a hero to this city."

Gildarts chortled, "Yes, now settle down we will arrive shortly. And, we will see the city tomorrow whilst we are at the training."

Natsu nodded slightly, pushing himself backwards into the leather seat. The sound of the horse's hooves on the floor changed and sounded like they were clicking on stones. The curtain had fallen during Natsu fall and had closed the red curtain over the window.

He moved it back, allowing himself to see the mass of lights that came from small holes in brick buildings. In tall poles, that were equally spaced from each other, and reached up past the first floor of the buildings, that had bright, flickering flames inside of them. This was endless in Natsu eyes and the sound of drunken laughter slowly faded as they came closer to the hotel.

When reaching the hotel, Natsu saw that it was grand. It was painted white, with gold trimmings on the windows and doors, and the glass was without scratches or finger marks. And upon getting inside, he was greeted by light woods, that were rich in a golden colour, and seeing a place where chairs and priceless jewels adorned the room.

Gildarts went up to a front desk, which was made from a dark wood that stood out, and talked to the man behind the desk. Then with a key in hand, ushered Natsu up a flight of stairs, and into a white door with a number on it. Inside it was simple, yet elegant. Two beds that were placed on either side of the room, and different desks and ornaments.

They both dived onto a bed, Natsu took the one in the right, and Gildarts took the one on the left, then they both fell asleep almost instantly.

 _The next morning..._

Natsu yawned, feeling slightly refreshed from being in a new place. In a separate bed, Gildarts seemed to be stirring awake, slightly leaning upwards and rubbing his bloodshot eyes.

Natsu was already getting dressed and preparing himself for his training, slipping on his black, long-sleeved shirt, rolling up the sleeves; putting on his pants and boots too. He left the stupid jacket off because it annoyed him, but he'd put it on when they left for the school. He walked out onto the balcony, seeing people walking to and from places.

He found it all new and exciting, and placing himself on a table began to meditate, not noticing a group of people gathering bellow him to watch. He watched at the brown and blue particles danced and watched the red particles mingle in with the blue, occasionally causing some to vanish of either colour. He wouldn't be able to train his body today, but he could find out that stance to start collecting battle qi.

After half an hour of meditating it was eating away at him too much – he needed to know. He opened his eyes, and walked to the edge of the balcony to see a few girls staring up and giggling at him; he noticed a familiar person among the crowd of girls. He slightly crumpled his eyebrows but decided against what he had planned to say.

"Lisanna!" He yelled down towards her, causing her to look up in shock, which made her cheeks become a bright red, "Your father is a warrior right? I will be coming tonight with Gildarts to ask him something – let him know we are coming, thanks!"

Lisanna stammered a little and choked on her own words before saying "Okay!" and leaving with her childish friends.

He grimaced, slightly happy that he wouldn't be alone going to this school, but the fact that Lisanna was probably going to tell her friends all about him; he didn't want that, he just wanted to train and become stronger. He turned on his heels, slightly cursing himself for wanting to improve so much that he would ask Lisanna for her aid.

"There is a saying that boys will act like they do not like women when they truly love them," Gildarts wiggled his eyebrows a little, loving the look of disgust and shock that painted Natsu's features, "Maybe this is why you treat her this way."

Natsu scoffed, not even looking at Gildarts for a minute before picking up his bag, and sheathing his sword on his back, and saying, "Let us go, I do not have time to waste."

"Maybe you need a girl that will stop you from being so lonely, maybe she will even stop you from looking stoic all the time and bring out that childish side you have," He laughed, whilst ruffling the boy's hair, "I remember when I had just met Cornelia, I treated her how you are treating Lisanna, now I'm married to her and we have a daughter... and a son."

Natsu looked at Gildarts, almost tripping down the stairs as he did so, but was caught by Gildarts.

* * *

Natsu and Gildarts walked down the street, growing nearer and nearer to the grand building Natsu had seen from the carriage. That was the academy he'd soon be attending – if he managed to pass their tests and get in – and he'd never felt more excited in his life, than how he did right now.

They reached the entranced, which was a gate that was large and black, and at the top had a large piece of metal that had multiple protection scrolls and magical circles on it. But they could not enter the gates because it was for students only, instead, the testing was done just outside the school's gate, on a massive stage that students could practice their fighting on.

There was a crowd of students, many looked poor, but many also looked wealthy. Gildarts pushed through the crowd, holding Natsu hand as they walked through.

"That is Gildarts the Ninja Saint, is it not?" One woman whispered to another, which caused many around her to look, soon many of the wealthy and the poor were stealing glances at Natsu and Gildarts.

"Could that be his son? I would have thought that he would become a Ninja, not a wizard." Another whispered – soon the whole group of people were whispering, and there were around five hundred.

They reached a booth, where a man wearing a blue robe stood, and looked with wide eyes at Gildarts and Natsu, "I'd like to write my son's name down for the testing," The man nodded, listening to Gildarts commands, and the asked kindly for Natsu's name, "Natsu Clive-Dragneel."

"Your son will be tenth in the testing, master. This is the earliest slot I can give to him." The man said kindly, before ushering the boy into a line that was now forming.

The first person was called forwards, "John Smith!" A grand old man said, bellowing the child's name.

A small boy, maybe a year younger than Natsu, moved forward in the line, climbing up the steps with his tiny legs. The man asked the boy to place his hands on a ball, that stood on a white podium, and to keep his hands there for at least ten seconds. The boy did as he was told, and the man stared at the ball which began to glow and change colours, before yelling:

"Fire element, average affinity!" And the asking the boy to move into a square, that was painted grey on the floor.

Natsu knew that the pressure in the square was pulling the boy down, but he did not collapse. Actually, the boy stood for a good three minutes before he fell to one knee, the man looked at him, and Natsu watched eagerly.

"Spiritual energy is 12 times higher than the average human! Fail, next!" The old man shouted, causing the boy to splutter and slightly hyperventilate, before charging down the steps.

The next three went up, each one having a different element than the other before, but none having two or three like Natsu did, one of them failed, but the two others past each having the bare minimum to pass. It was Lisanna's turn next, she placed her hands on the ball and the man called out that she had a high air element affinity, which was the first to be given out. She then stood in the square and lasted four minutes, which gave her a spiritual energy 17 times higher than the average human – she passed.

One after another the hopeful candidates went up, but none had an extremely good score, only three had scored an exceptional affinity in one of the four main elements. Lisanna had stayed next to Natsu in line, trying to have a conversation with him, but he replied bluntly to her.

It was now the eighth person's turn, and when he looked at her, he swore he had never seen anyone that looked quite like her. She had slightly long, blonde hair, and her body was pleasing to the eye. When she placed her hands on the ball he could see her deep, brown eyes.

"Light element, with an exceptional affinity! Air element, exceptional affinity! A rare dual Mage!" The man yelled in shock, but with slight glee, "Please step into the square."

Almost all the parents and candidates had started whispering, and Dezeus joined in, "A light element, what an exceptional girl."

He blanked out on the rest, but when she walked past him after she had passed her exams with flying colours, he couldn't help but stare at her, she was strong and that made him respect her. How had this girl become someone with such a pure soul? All these questions swarmed in his head, but he didn;t have a long time to think – it was his turn.

He walked up onto the stage, noticing how quite everyone was and how they watched him. Natsu hadn't ever had this many eyes on him, and he felt nervous. He looked around to see the blonde-haired girl was still here, and Lisanna had gone to her father's side. He eyes locked on Gildarts, who stood next to the blonde-haired girl, and someone who seemed to be her mother and father.

He placed his hands on the ball and watched as the man looked at the ball, his eyes widening and his face holding a look of pure shock, before saying, "Fire element, exceptional affinity..." He trailed off, many seemed to begin to whisper, thinking that the son of Gildarts would be more powerful, but the man cough a little and they all stared at him, "Earth element, exceptional affinity. Air element, exceptional affinity. Destruction Magic, high affinity."

The room became silent, and the man ushered Natsu into the grey square, not once taking his eyes off of the boy.

Gildarts watched, whilst he congratulated Jude and his daughter on passing the tests that she had taken. The man smiled in return, and placed a hand on his daughter's head, telling her she did a very good job.

"But," Jude began, "Your son is even better than anyone could imagine, there is only one who was like him before, maybe they are related in some sort of way. Because, I know for sure, that you have never had a son and that you and Cornelia are still trying for a son."

The two men and small child watched Natsu. He had been stood for at least three minutes now and he wasn't breaking a sweat, the small girl broke the silence between the men, "He is handsome, though."

The two men laughed, wondering where this had come from, Jude turned to his daughter and said, "Maybe one day you will marry him and merge our two families together..."

"I would not be too sure," Another voice chimed in. A tall, white-haired man, who was ripped with muscles, interrupted the conversation, "My daughter likes the boy too."

"A shame my boy does not like your daughter."

It had been a good five minutes when Natsu began to sweat a little, and almost three minutes later he collapse to one knee, the man yelled out, "Spiritual energy 64 times higher than the average human!"

Gildarts looked at the white-haired male again, whose daughter was glaring at him coldly, "I think my son will go with someone he can fight with and not protect," Natsu bound over to Gildarts, who ruffled his hair, "Jude here is a warrior, a Battle Saint, I heard you shout about Battle Qi this morning and asked if he would help you."

Yes, even Gildarts could be quite evil when he wanted to be...


	12. Chapter 12

**Blah, this story may become super long.**

 **After this would it be okay to start another story about gamers? Would you guys like that?**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 12: Battle Qi & School Starts**_

* * *

Natsu held his breath as he watched the Battle Saint in front of his onyx eyes. This man was tall, taller than Natsu thought he'd grow to – not only that, but the man had muscles that ripped to the bone; they popped out of him like balloons. Natsu thought that if he stabbed the man with his blade. The man would become scrawny and, most likely, fly away.

The calm wind pushed against the grass, making it sway in the gentle breeze, while the sun struck the ground like an arrow, piercing into all the cracks that the land held, and casting a shadow of the bold man on the ground. Natsu stood about three large strides from the man, and he felt like an ant compared to him.

The man had taken off his shirt, he said it was to allow him to feel the nature around him easily and quickly, and he wore formal dress pants, not bothering to change into something looser and easier to train, the man had said he didn't need anything comfier. Natsu clothes were already comfortable to train in; it was the exact reason he had chose these when Cornelia gave him three sets to choose from, the other two he still kept.

Natsu had taken off his bag and unclipped his sheath, placing them together on the ground underneath the jacket he found annoying. The man stood in front of him, his massive arms crossed across his chest, his blonde hair slicked backwards and his eyebrows furrowed into straight lines.

"I am surprised you made it to the third rank without collecting Battle Qi, many only get to the first rank," The man did not smile. Instead, he held a hard face; he bellowed out to Natsu making sure that he had the boy's attention, "We will start out with the correct stance."

The man that was teaching Natsu was the head of the Heartfilia Conglomerate, a very wealthy and well-known businessman, who owned the biggest business that was famous to the continent. This man looked harsh, but in the face of his daughter, he became an overgrown child who had just found something new and exciting.

He smacked the back of Natsu's leg, where his knee was, making his leg dip and become weak; he did this for the other leg too.

"Your legs should be strong in this position, next time I hit them they best not dip or even wobbled slightly," Natsu straightened himself out. Then bent his knees slightly, the man smiled in approval before hitting the spot again, this time he barely budged, "Better, but you are still moving."

They did this three times over before Natsu had the correct posture, his back was ramrod straight, and his legs were bent slightly; he was planted firmly in the earth. Next, he had to find a place to put his arms that felt good to him.

"Most people find it easier to have their arms by their sides; their elbows will be sticking out behind them," Jude said, prodding at Natsu's form, making sure it was correct and stable, "I, myself, do not like this posture. I like having my arms out straight to my sides; you may have a different way to these."

Natsu knew the way he would prefer – he'd prefer being turned sideways slightly. His head was facing to the right; then one arm would come just bellow his chest and come across to his right side, and his other arm would be bent slightly. His hand was barely coming in front of his face, about an arms width away from his face, and both would be loosely hanging in their places.

"Now, I want you to breath and focus on white dots that spring forth in your eyes. Seeing as you are a Mage, this should be easy for you to do." He looked at the buff man, then slowly closed his eyes and began to look for the white dots.

When he found the first few white dots, he looked at them a little, watching them as they floated around gently, moving back and forth. Then, slowly, he brought them towards him, unlike in Magic the element dots would just stay close to your body, your body absorbed these dots. When they entered through his skin, like water to cloth, he felt them enter his blood stream and how they moved around his body. He felt himself fill up to the brim with energy.

Lots and lots of energy.

He continued doing this, loving the feeling that this new power was giving him. He felt them energise his body and coarse through his veins, but it had been short lived as they merged into his muscles and made them stronger. Although it felt like a lot, it was insignificant. He'd have to collect a lot more to gain even the tiniest of muscle mass, then, after earning enough of this energy, he would break through.

Jude continued to prod at the boy, being in this stance meant that the Battle Qi would flow freely through his body and it also meant that he could attain Battle Qi. Unlike being in any other position, this one had the ability to allow Battle Qi but was not infinite. There was only a certain stage that this would take you to, and after that, you would have to search for another way to break through.

This stance would make Natsu Saint rank – if he were lucky, and after that, it was a mystery to Jude on how to progress through the levels.

Natsu found himself growing weary after awhile. It had been the thirty-minute mark when he had to stop, he had sweat cascading like a waterfall down his face, and his eyes were a bloody red. Natsu was physically drained, feeling his chest rise and fall at a gradual pace.

Jude sat on the floor, laughing slightly, and then he spoke through his laughs, "I remember Igneel very vividly, he came to me once or twice to get child clothing for you," Natsu fell backwards onto the grass, letting his chest pound. Why had it been so tiring? "Of course I gave him the finest pelts from beasts and then had my tailor make them easy for a wild boy to use. I was thankful to him – he had saved my wife from dying, and even helped us find a doctor that would help me and my wife have a child. He saved her after that, eight years after the birth of Lucy, my wife fell ill; Igneel brought a saint ranked light Mage to help heal my wife."

"Do you know where... where this Mage would be now?" Between breathless pants, Natsu asked.

"Probably the Hidden Village within the eastern mountains, why?" Natsu sat up, watching as the man pointed to the east as he inquired.

Natsu looked up towards the sun; it was noon now, he looked Jude again, and answered, "Because he will be my first lead to finding my father."

* * *

Almost a whole month later, Natsu stood at the gates of a large building. In his hand, he held a card; across his shoulder was his bag; on his waist was his sheath, which his sword hung on for people to see – he'd never felt so proud of himself, for in a month his life had changed completely.

When he learned to train his Battle Qi, he had skipped rank four and charged through like a bull to the fifth rank. Jude had taught him every day, but now he had to live in student housing. The campus itself was like a tiny city – he'd never have to leave until the holidays.

He had not only broken through as a warrior but as a Mage too. He was now even with all his elements, all of them being of the third rank, except his destruction magic, which had become a first rank magic. Dezeus told him that breaking through to the fourth level in one would move him up from the beginning classes to the intermediate classes, which were the 4th and 5th rank classes.

Dezeus had suggested that Natsu should keep his rank a secret until all his elements were of the fourth rank, and then move classes – Natsu was against it at first, but after weighing the pros and cons it seemed like a good idea.

Now, he stood in front of the massive, black iron gates. There were multiple students in front of him, giving their ID's to the man at the entrance and passing through after he checked them; he looked up at the school in awe a little.

"It is big, is it not?" Natsu looked to the side, to see Jude's daughter, she gave him a smile as she made casual conversation.

"Much bigger than anywhere I have lived," Natsu said faintly, staring back up and the school that towered into the clouds, "That is not saying much though because I have only lived in two places."

There was a silence, not awkward, but peaceful, the blonde broke the silence, "Why is your hair pink?" She inquired.

"It is not pink, it is salmon," He grumbled, ruffling his salmon locks while staring at the grey coloured floor, "And I do not know, maybe it is because of my parents."

"My name is Lucy. Pleased to meet you!" The girl beamed at him, holding out her hand for him to shake.

They moved forward in the line, Natsu handed in his ID and then shook her hand, "My name is Natsu. Happy to meet you too." He gave her a childish and boyish grin before entering the gates; he was passed a letter with times on it and a number.

"I wonder if it is mixed gender dorms?" The girl pondered, flicking her blonde hair.

Just then, a girl bound up and wrapped her arms around Natsu's neck, causing him to blush a little and groan, "Lisanna, I told you not to do that."

"Did you get stronger? You seem unyielding." She was a very bubbly girl and was always smiling and leaping with happiness.

It annoyed him a little, how could she be so happy when the world around her was in despair? Natsu was still mourning over his father, yet this girl didn't have a care in the world.

"He ranked up twice with help from my father," Lucy smiled at Lisanna, and in return, she had given a fake one – sickly fake – and Lucy turned to Natsu, looking at the number on his sheet of paper, "Our dorms are near each other, let us go."

"Lead the way." Natsu smiled, as he spoke with agitation.

He untangled himself from Lisanna, who followed them to the dorms. When they got there, they were met with two, three floored buildings, that were long, but were quite short in width.

Natsu opened the door for the two girls, then all three of them walked up two flights of stairs. Natsu's room was closer, so he was the first to leave. The two girls went up another set of stairs.

Lisanna turned her head, giving Lucy a sickly sweet smile, "I will not lose to you, I promise."

Lucy gave Lisanna the best smile she could muster, but even still it was very fake, "I only just met him, yet you seem to think I want to steal the love of your life. If he wants you, he will take you, but I have heard from Cana that he rejects you almost every day."

As the girls began to walk up another set of stairs, they heard a loud bang and crashed from, what seemed like, Natsu's room. Lucy didn't run down the stairs, But Lisanna practically flew.

When Natsu had walked into his room, he had been met with a tonne of water that drenched him from head to two, and then he had become shrouded in a great, black mist. On instinct, he set his hands a light with a great flame and then using his wind magic he used a spell that dispersed the weak cloud.

In front of him stood two mages, one who was hardly wearing any clothes and another who was more fit for being a warrior than a Mage.

The two Mages, who looked like they had been in a heated argument, looked at the pink-haired boy, whose teeth clenched hard together in his mouth. His hands were still alight with the brilliant flames; Natsu bellowed, "You are a metal face, and you are a fucking stripper!"

He pulled his fist back, and charged forward, slamming it into the half-naked boy's face. As he did this, his body was in the air, and then he turned, using the strippers face as leverage; then sent a heel kick into the tall boy's face.

As he landed on the wooden flooring, a fist connected with his face, but it was slightly wet. When he looked he had been hit with a fist made of water; the two boys were in for a shock when the boy didn't even move.

"Why, the fuck, have you got metal studs on your face? And why are you almost naked?" The two boys stopped for a minute, and then the smaller, blue-midnight-haired boy said shit and collect his clothes.

"You are strong, pinky." The taller boy's voice was gruff and quiet, "I am both a warrior and a darkness Mage of the second rank. The name is Gajeel."

"Yeah, I mean the last guy I hit with that fist hit the ground like a sack of rocks. You did not even flinch," The smaller boy said, slipping into his clothes, "I am Gray, as you can tell I am a water Mage of the third rank. I am also a Ninja of the first rank."

"I am Natsu. I am a warrior of the fifth level, and a Mage of the third rank." He said, waving awkwardly.

"Weren't you the kid that got four elements? So, you all third rank in them?" The tall boy said, he must have been at least more than half a foot taller than Natsu and the other boy.

"With air, fire and earth magic – I am the third rank. In Destruction Magic, I am the first rank." Natsu stepped out of the dorm, taking off his jacket and wringing it out on the carpet.

He looked up to see the two guys grinning; he grinned too.

Not because he had probably made some great friends, but because he found powerful Mages that he'd fight with. He heard someone clear their throat, then saw Lucy, holding a towel for him.

"You know we are getting our grouping's today, Gray and..." She looked at the tall man. Lucy was shorter than Natsu, so this man was like a skyscraper to her.

"Gajeel." He grunted, she smiled and nodded.

Happy began to mew from Natsu's bag, which caused Lucy, Gray, and Gajeel to give him a weird look. A blue head of fur popped out of the bag, blinking slightly with its big eyes.

"Every new student to the Choosing Hall!" A voice bellowed from each floor, Natsu placed his bag in his room and put the small cat-like creature on his shoulder.


	13. Chapter 13

**Seriously, I love it when I see the reviews and messages I get off you guys. You're awesome.**

 **I don't know if a lot of you are confused as to why Lucy is in the character tag section, but it's simply because of my devious mind that made her one of the main characters. In a later chapter, you will see why...**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 13: With Friends Like These...**_

* * *

He couldn't believe he had done this, not one bit...

He had run down the corridor, racing Gray at top speeds. Although, the water mage was behind because Natsu had been 'cheating'. To Gray, 'cheating' meant that Natsu had been using air magic to carry himself along; Natsu running strides were like a fully grown man leaping after a short run up.

Behind them was Lucy, who stood, awkwardly, next to Gajeel, who towered over her like a crane. And somehow, in the mayhem that Gray and Natsu caused, Lisanna had vanished from their little group, but they continued forward, sometimes yelling a cussing; other times they panted breathlessly like dogs.

Every time one of the two boys hurt themselves Lucy would run and use her light magic to heal them. Usually, it was a minor concussion, or because one of them had punched the other in the face. But soon Natsu had begun suffering from a high intake of mana consumption and his body began to waste its spiritual energy that was used to cast the actual spells.

"Natsu," Lucy fretted, beads of sweat gently rolled down her face, "If you continue you're going to pass out, maybe you should relax and train your spiritual energy later."

"Bunny-girl has a point hot head," Gajeel sid gruffly, scratching the back of his head, "We know you're a warrior and all, but you're only young so take a break with it all, you know? It's amazing how you came up with this much; you lasted half an hour."

"Plus, we need to get going," Lucy murmured, smiling weakly because she too was running low on how many spells she could cast, "We're going to be late."

"You guys go ahead," Natsu panted, slightly drowsily too, "I'll catch up with you after I've rested a little."

The other three shared a look, but then Natsu grinned at them and then they left. He watched their retreating figures as they jogged down the corridors. He then sighed, taking the sword off his back; he unsheathed it. He grabbed the hilt and, holding it with one hand, stared at his reflection in the dark coloured blade.

"Dezeus, what's going on? I can usually last two to three hours doing that," Grunting, he pulled himself up to lean against the white walls, "I've felt weak since I entered this school earlier."

"You're not the only one, boy," The sword replied in Natsu head. Dezeus voice was hollow and weak, "One of these Mages has to be Saint rank to put up a barrier this strong," Natsu was about to question him; ask him what he meant by the barrier, but Dezeus was one step ahead. "It seems to be a magical barrier that dulls the spiritual energy of the people inside it, except the caster, it apparently affects those even as strong as me. Maybe it was all the Wizards Saints working together..." Dezeus began to mumble to himself, clearly in a daze.

"Everyone else seems to be unaffected, why am I not?" Natsu pondered aloud, carefully pushing himself off the wall and began to sheath the blade again.

"Maybe it only affects destruction magic users, not many of them exist in the world, and most of them use their destruction magic for evil purposes like Zeref, or Acnologia," Dezeus said to Natsu, as Natsu swung the sword onto his back and began pacing forwards.

"Zeref... He's the-!" Before Natsu could finish, a hand covered his mouth; this stopped him from speaking so he could only mumble.

"He's the Dark Mage that uses destruction Magic; one that nobody should know about except a select few." Natsu looked at the wrinkled hand over his mouth, that seemed to be stretching for the ground, as he listened to the scratchy voice of an old gentleman, "So may I ask how you know that name?"

The hand removes itself from Natsu mouth, and the second it did Natsu pounced. He leaped backward, using his rank as a warrior to propel himself back and take out his sword. Dezeus was raring to go, the head of the dragon clamped down on Natsu hand and began to glow a deep red, emitting a dark aura.

"I asked: _'How do you know that name?'_ " The voice came again, but this time it bounced off the walls. Natsu couldn't locate where the old voice was coming from, but all his senses were on high alert.

"My father," He responded, his voice ringing loudly, not a hint of panic laced it, "Igneel. He once told me about how Zeref was after more power."

"Igneel? Now there's a name I haven't heard in a long time," The walls around Natsu became wobbly and disorientated, and soon a small man, probably up to Natsu stomach, stood in front of him with a broad smile, "It's nice to meet you. My name is Makarov, otherwise known as the dean of this establishment."

The man was small, as he had already notice, but had white hair that went around the sides of his head, and he had sharp brown eyes too. Natsu slowly sheathed his sword, taking a small amount of time to glance around cautiously.

"You knew my father?" Natsu inquired, slightly befuddled by what had just happened, but intrigued non-the-less. He watched as the man walked up to the window, where the sky was a burst of blue and whites; Natsu asked, "How did you know him?"

"Your father and I, we were as close as two people could be, despite the fact that he os a powerful magical beast," Happy poked his head out of Natsu's sleeveless, black jacket and mewed, "We took many adventures together, along with some others. They were quite exciting. I was only young back then, an inexperienced ninth rank; your father was still a saint rank."

The old man, Makarov, ushered Natsu to follow him down a corridor; Natsu followed Makarov and asked, "What happened? You could still be adventuring with him?"

"His brother happened," Makarov sighed, his broad smiling down turning, "His brother had married in a small village to the founder of the villages daughter. Igneel knew that there was going to be a child involved because you have to consummate your marriage. He immediately fled to the village, taking shelter in a crack that split the ground. I never saw your father again." Makarov opened a door, leading Natsu inside, and continued, "After that the only person who had contact with Igneel was Gildarts. I started this school, and the warrior school, all in the name of your father. What is he up to now?"

Natsu shuddered at the question. His eyes became dark; his face became solemn, and his fist clenched into a tight ball, he seethed as he spoke, "Someone took him when I was younger."

The room grew silent, no one uttered a single word.

Makarov was the first to break the silence, "Do you want revenge?"

"More than anything," Natsu replied, dismay twisted into his voice, "But I have no one to train me in all my magic, there are only a few. Staying at this school will take too long, and I still need to increase my warrior rank."

"Luckily for you, I can help with one of those problems," Natsu eyed the man, waiting for him to go on. Makarov chortled, "I am a dual element mage of the air element and the earth element. I'm sure that sword of yours can help with your fire and destruction magics. As for being a warrior, that is relatively straightforward. By looking at you I can tell you have become the fourth rank so early on, so I suggest putting yourself in a gravitational field made of spiritual energy and training. I'll teach you how to do it later, come now brat. I've got a class of stupid kids I need to put into groups. You can stand with me."

Natsu followed the man, who simply held Natsu shoulder. Within seconds they were in a hall filled with children to the brim. On one side you could see the warriors, they all had giant swords and hammers on their backs or were wearing armor in some way. On the other hand, there were mages, who wore long jackets; some had staffs, while others stuck their noses into magic books.

The room was a white colour; just by looking at it, you could tell it was grand with the golden strips that cut through the middle of the walls, or just by stepping a foot into it by the rich brown colour of the wooden floor.

"Okay, you brats!" Makarov yelled, causing the loud ruckus of the children to become a hushed whisper - almost silent, "My name is Makarov, and I am the head of these two schools." He waited for complete silence before continuing, then stood on his podium, "Today we will be choosing groups of people for you to train with, and go out into the world with. But, before that I would like to demonstrate something," Makarov jumped off the podium and turned to Natsu, whose head had been down the whole time, "Natsu if you would be so kind as to step into the middle of the floor."

Natsu felt something off about the place where he was told to stand. He could feel an immense magical energy coming off of it, and stood wearily at the edge of the circle, "Old man, even from a mile away any decent mage would be able to tell there's something off about the circle." He turned to Makarov, who smiled at him, before saying, "Tell me what the hell this is, then I'll step into it."

The room became so silent you could hear a pin drop, no one in the history of the school had dared to speak to the Dean like that, even the teachers thought he had a death wish.

"You must be dumb or something, we can't feel a thing, idiot!" One mage chided loudly from the room, "Just step in the circle!"

"Shut up!" Makarov scolded, then laughed once again, "I see that your measurements for being the best student to enter this school are not just innate talent. That circle has a field strength of over 100, which is my spiritual energy. This gravitational circle is what will be used to train all of you for the next twenty years of your life! If you don't reach the sixth rank by then, you are kicked out of the school! Please, Natsu step into it."

Natsu nodded, then stepped one foot inside. He felt like a 1000 ton weight was crashing down on him, and all the air was knocked from his lungs. He stood firmly within the circle, taking a little while to sort out his breathing pattern. Then the weight vanished.

"Now that's done with, I suggest you all start training in your own field strengths to get ready for the real tests," He clapped his hands, and a list dropped from the roof, "Let's start grouping you up!"

A man appears center stage, and looked at the children, "I am the one who paired you. These groups are non-negotiable, but you can choose to not take part with your team and work alone," He paused for a second, then continued, now explaining the instructions, "When I call your names, please stand at the doors to the right. Once your whole group is there you can leave." He let that information sink it, then called the first group, "Levy, a mage! Gajeel, a mage and warrior! Jet, a warrior! Droy, a warrior!"

A few people shifted, and Natsu saw Gajeel head towards the door. He quickly sprinted down the stage and slid onto his hands and knees to where Gajeel was, "I've got something cool to show you guys later." He grinned mischievously, which caused the male to grin too.

Another seventeen groups were called before he heard two other names he knew, "Lisanna, a mage! Bixslow, a warrior! Wendy, a mage! Romeo, a mage and warrior!"

Natsu saw Lisanna walk past him and smile, so he smiled back. He knew this group was going to split into two because of the age gap between the other two, Wendy and Romeo, on the team. They look like they were nine compared to the twelve-year-old Lisanna, and the slightly older looking, Bixslow.

Groups, after groups, after groups were called until there were only about one hundred kids in the room.

"Natsu, a warrior, a mage, and a ninja!" Ninja? Natsu wasn't sure why they had said that - sure he was faster than the average warrior, but he surely wasn't a first rank ninja.

"It's because Gildarts was teaching you the way of the warrior, that some of his Ninja training techniques may have caused you to step one rank into a ninja. You won't progress anymore without necessary training, but it is up to you if you want that." Natsu nodded at Makarov, no longer confused.

The group caller carried on, "Gray, a mage and ninja! Lucy, a mage! Erza a warrior!"

Natsu jumped off the high stage with ease, landing on his feet with his hands firmly inside his pockets. He jogged up to Lucy, giving her a big grin as they continued towards the door.

He looked at the group of people before him, and couldn't help but feel like this was going to be the best years of his life.

They left the hall, and the long, scarlet headed girl was the first to speak, "My name is Erza, it's a pleasure to meet you all."

Gray grinned at her, and so did Natsu, while Lucy gave her a soft smile.

"It's nice to have another warrior on the team because then I'm not stuck with a want-to-be warrior, who is a Ninja good-for-nothing mage!" Natsu stuck out his hand to greet Erza, and she placed her hand in his, shaking it firmly. "I'm a Ninja of the first rank and air, fire and earth mage of the third level. Oh, and I'm also a destruction mage of the first rank."

"Name's Gray," Gray said, sticking out his hand to shake hers, "I'm a Ninja of the third rank, and a Mage of the second rank."

Lucy gave Erza a soft smile, greeting Erza with a handshake as well, "My name is Lucy! I'm a light and air mage of the second rank."

"I'm a fourth rank warrior," Erza said back, smiling a little, "I believe we're only meeting once a month for group training because we go to two separate schools, but I look forward to our time together."

Yeah, Natsu felt like these were going to be the best years of his life with friends like these.


	14. Chapter 14

**I might be a bit late uploading because I am working on another story and my exams are coming up. Hopefully, I get full marks on the creative writing like usual.**

 **Can't believe it's chapter 14 already, Woah! For some reason whenever I write fight scenes they remind me of Naruto or Avatar...**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 14: Breakthroughs In Plenty...**_

* * *

Natsu first class was in the morning. This was when the wind blew the strongest, and could easily be used to train in - it was the most efficient way to breakthrough, and as much as Natsu wanted to stay on par with his friends, that he had met almost two months ago, he needed to get stronger. He pursued his fifth breakthrough as a warrior and his fourth in his three elements; he also pursued his second breakthrough in destruction magic.

Lucy had broken through in her air element when she had sat on the balcony of her room at night, which was where Natsu would meet her every evening to train and talk. And, she also had felt very close to breaking through into the third rank of her light element.

Gray had a breakthrough as a Ninja, now making his a fourth rank, and also he had broken through as a water mage of the third level. He loved to shove it in Natsu's face that he was now on par with Natsu; this usually resulted in the two mages fighting with their fists, which Natsu won because he was a warrior of the fourth rank.

Even Erza had surpassed him as a warrior, now reaching the fifth rank after two months. She broke through once when the group were training together, and a second time by herself when she was training with a boy from her school.

Natsu looked up at the sky, which was now a dark orange that faded into blue. He sat on the ground, ignoring the chatter of the thirty or so kids around him, taking a deep breath in as the wind caressed his face and bare arms. He then brought his head down to stare at the two girls, whose backs were towards him.

Lucy and Lisanna. On the contrary to what he had thought, the two girls got along well - they had found some common ground a month ago; now they tried to talk as much as possible, which stopped the constant bickering the two used to do before they had found their similarity.

"I know you two get along well, but I really want to break through," Natsu smiled from behind them, which caused them both to snap his head in his direction, giving him a befuddled look.

"When do you ever come to lessons? You privately train all the time?" Lisanna questioned, she hadn't bothered keeping up with Natsu, although she did occasionally confess to him in front of everyone every-so-often.

"He wasn't training he was either, annoying me, or playing with Happy," Lucy chimed, causing Natsu to shrug with a broad smile.

"I gave you a spiritual field to work in, that helped you," He playfully scolded her, and then sat with his legs crossed, "I'll be training now."

The two girls turned away, and Natsu closed his eyes.

He saw gradually moving blue particles; they swayed gently as they bobbed along like they were on the water. He had heard that the air element could be used as a defence and attack magic, much like the earth element. So far he had only used the wind element as an attack element, but was going to try to use it as a defence - he thought it might help him break through.

He started to bring the blue dots closer to him, but he didn't completely take them towards him. Instead, he kept them a small distance away, which made a circle of air around him.

It took awhile to get the particles to the right place, but after ten minutes he had them stable in a circle. He kept his concentration on the dots as he made a spiritual field around himself, which instantly increased the difficulty of what he was doing - which was difficult in the first place.

The dots began to falter as his composure did, but he slowly gained it back, and the dots became a solid circle again. But, he didn't think this was enough.

 _'People can easily break through that; it's a weak defence. Maybe if I can get them to move vigorously.'_ Natsu thought to himself, and then the idea struck him.

He started moving the particles, his palms sweating, and his forehead was sweating too. This used a lot of willpower, but he felt a bubble rise in him, and suddenly the particles were easier to move, and they move with more power and ferocity than before.

A breakthrough.

He didn't notice that everyone, including the tutor, looked at him. To them, he looked like he was controlling the wind with rage. His hair flowed upwards, and the air around him had a white tint; they could easily make out the sharp edges of the wind that sliced through the air like a hot knife through butter.

Lisanna was about to try and go through the barrier, to shake Natsu out of his trance, but Lucy grabbed her hands and pulled her away, "Are you stupid?!" Lucy scolded, taking one hand off Lisanna's wrist to point at the barrier made of wind, "You'll lose your hands! We need to disrupt him by crashing into the barrier with something."

Lucy stood in front of the wall of wind, while she looked at Happy plodding around inside the barrier, then she sent a slice of the wind to the barrier. This clashed with the barrier which, caused Natsu eyes to jolt open and the barrier fell.

Lucy stepped forward, and then her fist connected with the top of Natsu's head.

"That was a mighty barrier, maybe of the fourth rank?" The tutor question Natsu, flicking his hair back a little, "Very powerful indeed."

"Sir, you're saying Natsu should move up to the next set of classes?" A kid named Bora asked, he was sixteen and had recently started dating a water mage in Gray's class, "How is that possible I've worked hard for years, and I can't surpass the third rank!"

The only reason Natsu knew Bora was because of Gray. The girl he trained with was Bora girlfriend, and Bora had recently become jealous of Gray and Juvia's work. This was only because the two went into the small woods on campus and trained there near the waterfall at night, which usually ended with Gray stripping by accident.

Bora stomped away, and the class ended, and for some odd reason, Natsu didn't like the dirty glare and smirk Bora had shot at him before he left.

* * *

Natsu was going to skip his fire element class and train by himself; he felt like it was the best thing to do as he was going to shoot fire at the side of rocks.

He brought a bag with him to the small cliff face, but something was wrong. He had been here every day for the past two months, and it had never had this much magical energy - it never had this much wind power.

He dropped the bag at his side and ignited his fist in a bright, fierce fire. His onyx eyes darted around the area, using the wind to try and scope out the person that tried to hide. But, there was more than one, in fact, there were three. All of them were air element wielders, which wasn't the best thing when Natsu had sworn to use fire at this time of day.

"Kid," Dezeus began, "I think it's time I taught you a little destruction magic to help you with your predicament here. Fire is considered one of the most powerful destruction elements, thus ties in significantly with my magic. Take your fist, and chant the word 'Ignis', then thrust it forward towards your enemy. You'll breakthrough using this because of its sheer power, and you won't be able to use it again till tomorrow because of how much spiritual energy it takes, I trust after taking one of them out you can use your fire magic to take out the other two."

Natsu listened, but he came up with a different plan and instead shot an average amount of burning, red light towards two of the unsuspecting; this caused two of them to curse loudly and fall out of the tree, clutching the nasty burn marks that began to bubble on their chests.

Bora dropped in front of Natsu, laughing as his two cronies ran away in fear, "They were cowards anyways, I'll take you on myself," Bora said cockily, readying his wind magic, which swirled around him like a spiral.

Natsu didn't miss a beat as he controlled the fire element around him and wrapped it around himself like a cocoon, "You messed with the wrong kid, Bora. My father was a fire mage who taught me everything I know." Natsu charged forward, using his warrior speed to sidestep as he charged forward.

He got close to Bora, pulling back his fiery fist to punch Bora; Bora jumped. But, he had completely misread Natsu's movements, who sent a string of fire upwards which hit Bora in the leg. He watched as Bora fell to the ground, and watched as the boy gave a grave look.

"You burnt my pants," Bora smirked, removing the small wind barrier that protected his skin. He put it up in the last few seconds before Natsu fire connected.

"Could've been worse," Natsu replied monotonously, getting back into a fighting position.

Bora was now the first to lunge forward, moving his hands in slicing movement as he hurled knives of the wind at Natsu. Natsu used the fire that surrounded his fist as a shield, bringing his hand upwards to make a wall of fire. Bora was now jumping in front of Natsu, and a fist came straight for Natsu's face. The fist was cover in a moving wind that would cut Natsu if he came into contact with him.

Natsu quickly dispersed his fire and rolled to the side, causing Bora to punch the green ground. Not missing a beat, Natsu chanted, "Heed my call, fireball!" and fired a massive fireball at Bora, which connected with Bora's side.

Bora groaned in agony while thanking his quick reflexes. But he wasn't fast enough to dodge Natsu's fiery knee that connected with his stomach. He spat up blood and saliva.

The knee to the stomach Natsu had delivered had so much power to it, that it caused Bora to fly up into the air a little. The Natsu ignited his hand and punched Bora in the face, slamming him into the ground - the ground cracked from the impact.

Natsu jumped back, dodging the fist that Bora was about to shoot at him, but then the air continued moving and came into contact with Natsu gut. Luckily, he had put up a small sheet of fire to stop into from cutting his skin. He felt a new energy bubble up inside him, and he smirked.

"Thanks for being a great training partner, but I've broken through now," Natsu set his hands on fire, then outstretched one. And, with his fingers spread apart, he chanted, "Ignis."

A great ball of golden destruction burst from the palm of Natsu hand. It cut through the air, and like a battering ram, it charged a full power. The ball of pure, golden fire jolted a little from its extreme speed, and within a second connected with Bora's stomach - it sent him tumbling backwards and rolling like a fool on the ground. It would have killed him if he hadn't of put up that wind barrier, but now he was just unconscious.

Now an even greater feeling of power overflowed within him, and he clenched his fist; a broad smile plastered its way onto his face. He picked up his bag and walked over Bora, making sure to step into the boys gut.

"I guess I've only got to get a breakthrough in the earth element and as a warrior today too," He then groaned, "This means it's going to take ages to reach the fifth rank on all my elements!"

He began to jog towards his earth element classes, which were based in a very rocky area of the school. He wiped away the small amount of blood that had come from being hit in the gut by Bora's wind and dusted off his pants that had become dirty during the fight.

He remembered that Lucy was going to come and watch his earth element classes as they were going to find out who was the strongest in the class. Natsu was fairly confident in his abilities.

He soon arrived at the class, only to see Gray, Lucy, Gajeel, Lisanna and Gajeel's teammate Levy there. They were sat in some stands, where a few others sat to watch their friends.

He ran up to the grey stone and climbed it, handing his bag to Lucy, who took it and wore it, "Do you guys know if we can use our magical beast in this?"

"Yeah," Gray said, "As long as they're a rank lower than you are."

"Great because Happy needs to breakthrough, and then he should be able to communicate as Makarov told me," Natsu grinned then dropped off the wall and walked over to the instructor, "I'll be using Happy in my matches."

The blue cat popped out, landing beside Natsu and weaving in between Natsu's legs. The instructor nodded, and Natsu joined the class group, he watched as many of the students pumped themselves up, or meditated to gain their confidence.

Natsu knew he was low on spiritual energy, and he also knew if he won his first match he'd have almost an hour to relax and gain some back. Then he'd have half an hour. If he managed to stockpile most of his energy from each match he might have half, which would be more than enough for the last game.

"First up, Natsu and his Magical Beast vs. Gin and his Magical Beast." Natsu headed towards the left side of the side, laughing to himself as he decided to trash talk his opponent.

"Is that a mouse?" He asked, smirking one-sidedly, the boy, Gin, nodded as he walked onto the combat stage, "Great! Happy love mice."

The tutor signalled for the match to start and Natsu broke some of the rock to his side with his foot, then he brought it around his clenched fist. It completely covers it, and with a punch outwards he signalled Happy to attack the Magical Beast, while small shards of rock flew like daggers at Gin.

Gin, put up his tan arms to deflect the small shards of rock, but this only caused them to sink into his arms. He made a sound of annoyance, and pain, and then tried to gain his composure, but he was too slow, and Natsu had already begun his second attack.

Natsu raised a circular pillar behind Gin, which smacked into the boys back full force, sending him upwards into the air and forwards towards Natsu. He flailed in the air, as saliva shot from his mouth. Natsu's fist was once again coated in small rocks, but this time he jumped upwards, higher than he had hit Gin with the pillar, and then punched Gin in the gut, shooting him back down to the floor. Gin was out.

But, he could still be in if the large mouse, that was his Magical Beast, beat Happy and Natsu. Natsu sat down on the ground, then cheered, "Go Happy!"

The small blue cat pounced towards the mouse, which scurried out of the way of the blue cat's sharp claws. Happy was much faster though, he was actually faster than Natsu.

The blue cat turned quickly and hit the mouse with its claws, causing it to sprawl next to its owner.

"Natsu and Happy win!"

* * *

It was now the last match.

Natsu had stockpiled more than half his spiritual energy, which was more than enough to win the match. If he had learnt anything from watching the other boys matches was that he had no combat experience, like the rest of the students, and had won by pure luck.

Compared to Natsu's innate ability to fight, and the ruthless training Igneel, Gildarts and Dezeus had put him through - none of the students could compare to him. He had also been in many fights and had good control over his element, unlike some of the students.

Natsu looked at Happy, who stared at the Magical Beast that the other boy had. It was a bird, and happy was a cat, so it made sense why the cat looked so hungry.

"Battle start!" The tutor called for the final time today.

"I've been watching you Natsu; I know what you will do." The boy said eerily.

Natsu laughed, then rose the ground the boy stood on, who looked on in shock, "Like giving you an advantage point?"

The other boy decided it was finally time to fight and hurled a massive boulder at Natsu, which look like it took a lot of mental strain. It was too slow, and Natsu quickly created a wall of rock that blocked the bolder, he then shot the small pieces that were left behind from the shattered boulder at the boy, who was still on the elevated platform.

Natsu simply used these as a distraction, and he raised his hands to his side. He then begins chanting as the boulder shards kept flying at the boy on the pillar, he was merely copying what Dezeus told him to chant.

As the was happening Happy was using the pillar as a running wall as he ran up it and then jumped off it to land on the bird, this caused the bird to dive viciously towards the ground. Happy jumped off the bird as it collided with the solid floor. Happy pulled out his claws and started a fury of swipes on the bird, who couldn't escape.

Natsu had just finished chanting, then he yelled the last word, "Enclose!"

Everyone was startled, it was sudden and uncalled. Soon the pillar began rumbling and quickly closed around the boy. He vanished from the sights of Natsu and everyone else's. The Natsu created a rectangular strip of rock and punched it towards the pillar.

He felt a sudden burst of new found energy and then yelled, causing the rock to move faster through the air, ploughing through the pillar and taking the boy out with it. Natsu began to run, making a strip of rock appear and climbing it. He jumped off it then small bits of rock created a circle in the palm of his hand.

He rose higher than the other boy, who fired bits of rock at Natsu which cut his cheek, ear, arms and chest, and fired the circular ball of rock into the boy's stomach.

Natsu fell onto the pillar panting and bleeding as the other boy crashed into the ground, the instructor announced Natsu as the winner.

"We did it Happy!" He said as the small cat jumped onto Natsu's shoulder.

"Aye, sir!" A squeaky little voice said in his head. He looked back at the cat a grinned.

"Freaking awesome!" He said back to the cat, speaking to it mentally through their bond.

He jumped down, being congratulated by the class and his friends. Lucy began healing his cuts and bruises, and Natsu knew she had found his damaged ribs from Bora's attack when he saw her confused face.

He would tell her when they went back to the student halls, but for now he was just going to hang out with his friends for awhile.


	15. Chapter 15

**Wow... I loved the last chapter. I tried to do my best, to the depths of my writing ability, to make it very fun to read.**

 **Also, I now work with children... I might throw a child into later chapters...**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 15: Revenge Plans Only Take A Month**_

* * *

The wind swept back his pink locks. He sat on the ground, training as a warrior of the fifth rank now - soon to be sixth.

It's taken him awhile to get to this point, but his magic didn't feel close to the fifth rank. And, from what he had learnt from Makarov, it wouldn't for another year or two; this felt too long for him.

He began skipping classes more often; missing out on team meetings for the last two months. It was safe to say Erza wasn't happy about it because when she found out, she pounded Natsu into the ground. But, now they were equally matched; Erza couldn't outrun him when he had fourth-ranked wind magic on his side.

The thing that interested him the most wasn't that Gray had brought Juvia to their room, or that Gajeel tried to keep the small blue haired girl, Levy, away from him and Gray. It was that Bora hadn't been seen - this intrigued him a lot.

Natsu pulled out the dragon scale that hung on his neck by a single piece of rope. It swung from side to side in front of his face in the gentle wind as he eyed it with his onyx eyes.

"What do you think, father?" He whispered, taking in a deep breath of the chilly wind while sweat dripped down his face, "Is Bora planning some sort of revenge? On me for taking away his giant ego? Or Gray, who talks to his girlfriend too much?"

"Or me for saying 'no' to dating him," He recognised that voice anywhere, and felt two arms wrap around his neck in a hug, "You've been gone for almost two weeks, Natsu, what have you been doing?"

Blonde hair fell over his head, and he sighed, "Sorry for worrying you," he said softly, grinning largely as Lucy dropped a bag in front of his face, "I was training here, and then I suddenly thought about how Bora had vanished."

"Don't worry about it too much, he's probably training," Lucy sat beside him, taking in the breathtaking scenery.

In the distance, there was the Mountain Range of Beasts, where all the magical beasts tended to lie in wait. But, before that, there was the city. You could easily see the largest buildings in the back, and the smaller buildings dotted around the city. And, when the sun set all of the city was shadowed in a golden glow.

"Training for what..." Natsu muttered to himself as he opened the bag and saw Lucy's home-made sandwiches, "These look so good!"

He chowed them down, his mouth growing wider than a cannon ball; Lucy said, "How long has it been since you've eaten?"

"Maybe a week?" He hummed, taking another slice and eating it whole, "Maybe since I came here? I honestly don't remember."

She sighed, hitting him on the head for his ignorance, "Anyways, Lisanna's been looking for you all over. She even tried to venture out of the city. She kept saying something about how she was your girlfriend, and you just left her!-"

Natsu began to choke, a slight blush coated his cheeks, "I would never date her! I've got more important things to do than thinking about dating some girl who has an addiction to me!" he pushed that thought aside, and then turned to Lucy, "Want to train with me?"

She nodded and then proceeded to get into a neutral, taking a hair-tie and tying back her blonde locks. Natsu watched her, finding her movements slightly elegant, and then prayed that he had poured enough spiritual energy into the pendant for it to work.

You see, before Lucy had arrived, Natsu had poured over half his spiritual energy into the small, red scale; it had absorbed it. As far as he knew - which was what Igneel taught him - the scale would increase the efficiency of training and help someone to breakthrough quickly.

Lucy began training, and just from the glow that surrounded her, Natsu could tell that Lucy was training her light magic. He watched as the light shifted around; then it became a bolt of light and shot right past Natsu head.

"Train, Idiot," Lucy said plainly, not even opening a single eye.

"Got it, boss!" He quickly arranged himself, then prayed silently, "If this thing works, in a few months I should be able to reach the fifth rank in all my elements, and a sixth-ranked warrior."

He closed his eyes and began to focus on the red and brown dots, and taking these dots to encompass his two fists, which were balled by his sides.

He'd been doing this for awhile, straining himself to train two elements at a time to make his training more useful - and it was working! He felt significant improvements, and now, with this pendant, he felt it increased tenfold.

Lucy trained with him for a few hours, and then Natsu felt a sudden powerful energy coming from her. He propped open one eye and looked at the blonde how was enclosed in a blinding light. He smiled knowingly - Lucy had just broken through to the third rank.

Slowly, Lucy opened her eyes, a giant smile plastered on her face. Natsu saw how giddy the girl looked; her expression was a bright star in the night sky. Her smile reminded him a little of Lisanna's, always bright and big.

"I think that's enough training," Lucy moved towards Natsu, then bent down and hugged Natsu, "Come back soon, okay?"

"I'll be coming home soon, Lucy," he gave her his signature, toothy grin, "Keep your eyes open for Bora if he turns up you know where I am."

Lucy left, and Natsu began his training again, he planned to go home today. He didn't fancy being beaten by Erza again for not turning up to their meeting; he didn't think he could survive it either...

* * *

Natsu jumped off the edge of the cliff, plummeting down through the air.

Anyone would think that he was a child prepared to take their own life, but Natsu wasn't planning on that. Instead, he was planning on running through the small woods with Happy to get to campus faster. The little cat had ranked up, but he didn't know what rank Happy was, and Happy refused to tell him.

The woods were so small that Natsu and Happy cleared it within in a minute, even with Natsu bad sense of direction he managed to come out on the side of the woods where his room was.

He began running a little faster, then using the wind he pushed himself off the ground, soaring over the school students - who gave him weird looks - and landing on the balcony of the room he, Gray and Gajeel lived in. He opened the sliding door and slung his bag onto his bed.

"Gajeel, Gray!" He yelled, taking off his white shirt and walking into the seating area. Only to be met with a small blue haired girl, "I either have the wrong room, or you do, which one is it?" Natsu questioned, towering above the small girl, who came up to his nose.

"We both have the right room, I'm waiting for Gajeel," The girl replied, he nodded knowing this girl was Levy now.

"Ah, well," He cleared his throat and moved to put his dirty in the shirt in the washing, "Make yourself at home."

After a few minutes of sitting in an awkward silence, Lisanna crashed into the room. There was blood on her clothes; sweat dripping from her face and cuts all over her arms. She held a look of worry, shock, anger... fear. Natsu blood ran cold as he jumped from his seat in nothing but shorts that reached his knees.

"It's Bora!" She yelled, panting as she did so, "He attacked Gray and Gajeel; then Lucy began fighting too. She's... they're struggling against Bora and his friends."

Natsu dived out the room, grabbing the sword that was placed conveniently at the door. He practically jumped down the stairs, Levy and Lisanna running behind him.

"Are you in love with him?" Levy asked as she ran with Lisanna, who was blushing underneath the redness of tiredness, "You can tell by the way you look at him, and he seems to be comfortable around you too."

Natsu had vanished out of their sights, so instead of talking, they continued running.

Natsu was already at the scene, lots of people had gathered and were watching the fight. Natsu jumped above the crowd, unsheathing Dezeus, which immediately began to drink Natsu blood to feed off his spiritual energy. He covered the blade in wind magic, and as he fell he prepared to slam the sword onto the ground.

As the sword hit the floor, the wind dispersed forcefully, pushing Bora and his friends backwards. Some of them fell onto their backsides, while some staggered backwards.

The dust from the ground began to fall again and Natsu became visible to the crowd. A large sword swung over his shoulder and his bare chest, that was evenly muscle was shown to the crowd and Bora.

"Looks like the cavalry has arrived," Gray joked, a large gash on his face that Lucy began to heal from the back lines.

"Finally," Gajeel grunted, his fists were cut, but they also held other people's blood on them, "Thought you weren't going to show up."

"Well," Natsu chuckled, his pendant waving in the wind, "I couldn't let you guys get your asses handed to you." Natsu then growled, snapping his head back to Bora, who had finished recovering from the shock, "Ready for round two Bora? This time I was thinking of killing you for hurting my friends, but then I could just break your will to do magic. Hey, Lucy, take a break for a couple of minutes; I'll deal with this."

He pulled the large sword off his shoulder, pointing its black blade, with a hint of red from Natsu's blood. He then vanished, or they thought he vanished, but he was moving too fast for their eyes and was moving into their blind spots.

He hit one of Bora's 'helpers' with the butt of his sword, knocking him out almost instantly. He then jumped back as another one of Bora's friends went to punch Natsu, but then another hit him in the back and him didn't even flinch.

"You guys are annoying as flies..." He sighed, then spun around with his sword, moving the wind to knock two of the lackeys into the air.

When they flew up, Natsu jumped above them and punched one in the stomach, causing him to throw up a significant amount of blood and sent him like a comet into the ground. The other was on the other side of Natsu; his sword was in the same hand that the lackey was on. He turned the sword around to the blunt side, then spun in mid-air and slammed the blunt aspect of the sword into the boy's throat.

Another one shot a ball of the wind at Natsu, which hit him on the side. This caused him to fly back to where Lucy was, who looked a little more alive than before. Lucy put her arms up to begin healing Natsu, but he quickly grabbed her waist and dived to the side with her - a trail of fire scorched the floor.

"You can hit me all you want," He seethed, grabbing Lucy's waist a little harder, which caused her to wince, "But touch Lucy, and I'll kill you... I mean it."

Lucy saw the pure rage on Natsu face, and it reminded her of a dragon.

He let go of her waist, and then put his sword on the floor near Lucy, covering one of his fists with fire, and the other with destruction magic.

"Ignis!" A few of Bora's lackeys flew backwards, ending up with painful burns as Natsu destructive fire tore through the air and collided with them.

Natsu then walked forward to the last person, Bora, who had been firing balls of air at Gray and Gajeel. Natsu grabbed his collar, his pupils and eyes were tiny from his blind rage. He threw his through a gap in the crowd into a wall, and within the blink of an eye was on the wall, punching Bora with a fist of the earth.

Bora used wind magic to push Natsu off, then pushed Natsu to the ground using the air. Natsu suddenly felt all the air being sucked from his lungs and Bora jumped on him; pinning him down to the ground and punching his repeatedly with a fist surrounded by air.

Natsu reached his hand backwards, pointing to the sword. It flew to his hand, But, he already felt his head spinning; his eyes were going to roll into the back of his head. He thrust the sword into Bora's leg causing him to scream in agony.

Natsu lungs filled with oxygen again. He gasped and coughed, then fell back towards his group of friends.

Bora regrouped with his friends.

"Enclose," Natsu breathed, and the ground closed around Bora and his friends, causing them to cry in shock, "Collapse."

The roof of the enclosed area fell on them, and they were all depleted of spiritual energy; their physical wounds gave them so much agony they couldn't move.

Natsu smelt blood; he picked it up relatively fast and turned to Lucy, "Lucy!" everyone yelled together, watching her fall limply to one side.

Natsu dived to her, grabbing her body before she hit the floor. He scanned her body for wounds and found a large gash on her leg, but the light magic inside her had already begun healing it; now she was just low on spiritual energy.

Natsu lifted her and carried her to her room.

* * *

Natsu, Gray and Gajeel sat in their room. They had allowed their friends - their family - to be hurt; they couldn't forgive themselves for it.

"Two years," Natsu said, breaking the silence that hung like death in the room, "Two years and I'll reach the fifth rank, maybe the sixth, with my magic. I'll train more as a warrior and break through to rank eight; I won't let anyone be hurt again."

In the fight, Lucy had been injured, gaining a nasty cut on her leg. Lisanna and a few broken ribs and she had found it hard to breathe for awhile; Levy had just finished getting healed for her burns.

"Juvia," Gray sighed, "She was hurt by Bora," he seethed out the name, "before the fight began."

"Let us come train with you Natsu, put down one of your training fields and we'll train and become a powerhouse before we reach seventeen," Gajeel said through gritted teeth.

"Let's do it," Natus nodded in agreement.

Natsu would find a new place, that no one would find, not even Lucy, and they were going to train until they were completely exhausted.


	16. Chapter 16

**This chapter will, possibly, be the last time skip of the story, not too sure yet though. The ships come into play here! Bare with me because I have decided on the couple I want, just want to make it dramatic as possible!**

 **GUESS THE COUPLE GUYS!**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 16: Two Years of Hardcore Training**_

* * *

A pink haired male wiped his brow. Natsu, now 15 and almost five foot seven in height, just finished up his warrior training.

Too much had happened these two, long years. Gajeel and Gray had been non-stop training, and they were so entranced with it that they didn't come out of a coma-like state for months at a time. Because of this extensive training, Gajeel had reached the fourth rank in his darkness magic, and Natsu knew that, right now, he was close to breaking through. As a warrior, Gajeel had reached the fifth rank, making him bulkier and larger than before. He now stood at five foot eleven.

Gray had also made impressive breakthroughs, he was now a fifth-ranked Ninja, adding a bit of muscle onto his body. He'd also become a fourth-ranked water mage; this was because of Natsu.

Gray one day felt very annoyed with himself, he punched the side of a grey stone mountain, almost breaking his fist, and cursed too many times for Natsu to count. Natsu, who had made sufficient progress for the day took off his pendant and gave it to Gray. In that same day, Gray broke through as a water mage; towards the end of their two years, he broke through again, making him a fifth rank water mage.

Happy had also become larger and broke through to the sixth rank, making him stronger than Natsu for a small amount of time. He didn't understand why, but Happy had high rates of improvement and was now flying through the ranks effortlessly.

Natsu had improved significantly. His body grew out, and he became more handsome than before; his muscles also developed fairly, but he wasn't as muscled Gajeel. He had broken through to the sixth rank in all his magics, except for destruction magic. He also became a sixth-ranked warrior, and he felt like a hair widths away from becoming the seventh rank.

"I'm heading back," Natsu said, placing two pins in his hair that pinned back his long fringe, "Maybe Lucy will give me a haircut."

"Or you wish she'd give you something more, Flame Head," Gray snickered while Gajeel chortled, "Maybe a kiss or Lisanna might instead."

It had been a long running gag for Gray and Gajeel to tease Natsu about his love life. It started one day when they heard Lucy call their names a few months after they left to train, they immediately gathered their things to make a dash, but Natsu watched from the direction Lucy's voice had sounded, and then they heard Lisanna's.

They had to drag Natsu from the small woods that day and to the edge of their city large campus.

"Maybe he's hopin' for somethin' more," Gajeel smirked evilly, moving his pierced brow, "Get out of here, Salamander."

Natsu did exactly what Gajeel said. He hoped off of his perch on a broken ledge of the mountain and began to walk back casually, taking his sweet time to do so.

He began thinking about the Mountain of Magical Beasts; he hoped that now he'd be able to leave campus and go there. They had met one of the upperclassmen men when he had come in from his training in the mountain; he had told them that it was a perilous place.

 _"Although there may be boundaries, where there will be rank four beast are, which is on the outskirts, sometimes there is an anomaly. I found a class nine monster, which is three levels higher than me, I had to run out into the fields, where a group of rank nine warriors from the capital took it out!"_

Natsu hadn't noticed in his pondering state, that he was nearing the campus, but when he did he looked at the sky. He worked out that it was early morning, which meant the light magic classes were just beginning. He grinned to himself, feeling like creating a scene with his child-like tendencies.

He reached the edge of campus, where he saw his balcony to his room. He effortlessly jumped up it, opening the sliding door and slinging his bag in. Without bothering to sort out all the things that spilt out of his bags, he jumped off the balcony again, now sprinting with Happy running by his side.

He ran through crowds of new students; he now knew they'd been gone longer a little over two years, and that these students must have their first day today. Without bothering to say 'excuse me' he jumped over them.

"Old man!" He shouted gleefully, making eye contact with Makarov, who was leading the new students, "It's been awhile!"

"A while," Makarov growled, then jumped and hit Natsu on the head, making him hit the ground, "It's been two years, Brat! And you have the nerve to call it a while!"

"Sorry," Natsu smiled sheepishly, "I wanted to get stronger after what happened with Bora. But I didn't know how to tell you that I was going to train with Gray and Gajeel in seclusion, so instead, I just left, you know. I left Lucy and Lisanna, separately, and then went with them. Please, forgive me, Gramps."

He closed one eye and placed his hands together in front of his face, Makarov said, "I guess I have no other choice, we'll talk later tonight brat."

Natsu smiled then began running again, his vest top open to show off his abs. He had long trousers on, which he found uncomfortable, and then jumped over another crowd of people. He was getting close to the light magic classes.

He finally got there, seeing only a handful of people there. They all listened intently to the instructor and he spotted his favourite blonde, he sat down on a few benches close by and watched her.

The instructor sent them to do their own thing, probably the thing that he had just been talking about. Only a few light mage students spotted Natsu, both of them girls, and began giggling and blushing. He saw Lucy's head flick towards them and she sneered at them telling them to 'shut up' or something along those lines.

Natsu laughed to himself a little, watching as he noticed how well she had grown out. He blushed, telling himself not to think of his best friend in that way.

He made a beeline straight for Lucy.

He noticed how, contrary to last year, she was now in the fourth rank classes, while most of Lucy's, Natsu's, Gray's and Gajeel's old classmates had only just reached the third rank.

But, he didn't want to think of that right now. He just bounded straight up to Lucy, who was in deep concentration, and then picked her up. He spun her around and around, while Lucy just squealed, slightly taken aback by this person, who she had no idea who he was, picking her up and spinning her.

"Did you miss me, Luce," Natsu grinned down her ear, his high-pitch child voice now replaced by a deep handsome tone, "I missed you - if that counts for anything."

"Natsu!" Lucy yelled in surprise, wriggling out of his arms to then fling herself around his neck, "Idiot... Where were you this whole time. I was worried sick."

"I was just training," he scratched the back of his head, slightly shocked by Lucy's open display of affection, "I did not want a repeat of Bora. You lost all your spiritual energy and passed out, you had cuts and bruises everywhere. So did Lisanna, and Levy did too! I just wanted to get stronger to protect people important to me."

"We could have become stronger together. Instead, it feels like we have been apart for a lifetime," Lucy sighed, sinking into Natsu strong arms while the sunlight beat down on them intensely, "Lisanna cried every day for you. I guess now we get how much love she holds for you - enough to grieve while you were away. Honestly, anyone would have thought you were dead the way she acted."

Lucy slowly moved from his arms, bowing to her instructor as she began to drag Natsu away. Lucy was shorter than him, not by much, but enough that Natsu had to look down on her.

"Have you been to visit anyone else?" she questioned, still holding on Natsu strong arm beside her.

"You are the first I have come to visit," Natsu gave her a fanged grin, using his other hand to squeeze her hand that grabbed his arm, "I'll go see Lisanna and everyone later."

Then, they went into the woods. They talked for a few hours, until the sun reached its peak, then decided it was best to talk later tonight.

* * *

Noon came too quickly for Natsu to comprehend.

While students, new and old, gathered in the mess hall, Natsu took his time to stroll there. He glanced up at trees and took in how the campus had changed very little to when he left.

"Man, this place doesn't change much," he sighed, taking in a deep breath. "The students and teachers do, though. I cannot say I've missed it much. The people are constantly getting stronger and changing their personalities - and here I am - I'm still hell bent on getting revenge."

"It seems like a very mediocre thing compared to what the rest of the students want, does it not?" Dezeus replied, his voice filling Natsu head. "You seem very straight and narrow-minded, whereas, say Lucy or Lisanna, are after a certain goal, and once they achieved it they'll continue onto the next goal. You do not have a goal after revenge, do you?"

"I do," the pink head replied bluntly, pulling on the strap of the sword that pressed against his white, loose shirt. "I want a family; with them, I will return to a village Igneel spoke about. After that, I guess I will have to find out as I move along."

"I never imagined you as a family man," Dezeus chortled; Natsu could practically see him laughing. "Although you must get that from Gildarts - he was constantly trying to find you a partner. I believe I placed a bet on you and Lisanna when you were much younger."

"Enough," Natsu waved off Dezeus attempts of teasing, sighing as he did so. "How much stronger do I have to become to take the life of the man who took my father. How much longer do I have to wait?"

"From what you told me, by this I mean the description of the man you gave me when you saw Igneel be taken, almost thirty or so year." Natsu choked on the air, and before Natsu even spoke Dezeus had begun his next sentence, "In the past, when I wasn't trapped in this blasted sword, a boy went through something similar to you, except it was his mother who was killed. He begged for me to help him and became a master of the destruction magic at 48 years old. He barely won when taking his revenge."

"I can't wait another thirty years!-" Natsu began to yell at Dezeus mentally, but Dezeus hushed him with his harsh tone.

"And you can't expect to become even a deity rank with your attitude!" Cold. Natsu hadn't felt this kind of cold even when Igneel yelled at him - so harsh and chilling to the bone. "I simply want you to be strong enough to face off against the black wizard Zeref."

"Zeref..."

Natsu continued his stroll to the hall, where he then found all the students on campus had gathered.

"Natsu, you brat, just in time!" The small, white-haired man, Makarov, smiled greatly at him, "I was just about to test the skill of those who wish to leave to the mountain range."

Natsu nodded swiftly, then took off towards where Lucy sat, with more girls than she usually sat with. They all seemed to be giggling and blushing, along with Lucy who was much more flushed than the rest. Natsu was about to change his mind and walk past the bench, but he couldn't turn away at the very last moment.

"Luce, what rank are you?" He caught the attention of not only Lucy but the rest of the girls that were on her table. It became quiet and only a hushed whisper could be heard. "I plan on entering the mountain range; leaving you here alone again wouldn't be in my best interest because I can't protect you from here and I can't leave Happy with you."

"I'm rank four so I'm high enough to go in, what about you?" She asked, slightly intrigued to see how much progress he had made.

"Rank four in both your elements?" He asked. She nodded and he did also. "Great! I'm a rank six warrior and sixth ranked in all my elements, apart from destruction magic."

"LuLu, is this your future husband?" One of the girls asked while the rest nodded egarly to know.

"No, this is Natsu, my best friend. I've told you about him before. He's supposedly the most talented in our school to my knowledge, and he's pretty much the greatest friend and comrade one could ask for." Lucy spoke highly of him, making Natsu slightly bashful.

Natsu felt someone bump into him, but he didn't even move from his spot when they did. He looked to see Bora, and they were now standing at the same height. He glared sharply at Bora, whilst Bora did the same back.

Natsu grabbed the collar of Bora shirt, picking him up from the ground and lifting the older male up into the air, "If I hear you've done one thing to someone my friends care for, or someone I care for..." he dropped Bora back onto the ground, "I won't hesitate to kill you like I did last time."

"I haven't done anything," Bora sneered, slinking away, "Fucking idiot."

"Let's go tell Makarov were leaving for the mountain range in a few days," Lucy said swiftly, tearing Natsu away from the fleeing Bora, "Then we can train together again."


	17. Chapter 17

**Already chapter 17, I can't believe that I have this much dedication...**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 17: The Journey To The Mountains**_

* * *

Natsu began to gather things into his bag. He decided he'd wear something that was comfortable to move in, easy to fight in and easier to keep warm in.

So, now the well-built boy, who didn't know how handsome he appeared to some women and girls, stood in a tight black vest that clung to his abs and in some black long johns. His hair, which had been cut by Lisanna the previous night, was back to its original spiky way.

He wore a waist bag, which hung at his side. Inside this was his money, that had been collected from various jobs, and on his back lay Dezeus, who was still a little too big to be placed at his side.

He stood outside the sleeping halls early in the morning; the wind blew gently in his face as he waited for Lucy to come outside. He felt the sun's warmth embracing him and welcoming him to the new day, and he sighed with tiredness laced into his hushed hum.

He ruffled his hair as he yawned, then leant against the wall as many of the new students left early to their lessons.

"I am going to miss you," he felt two small arms wrap around his waist. "You just came back, and now you are going again - I feel like you and Lucy are leaving me behind a little."

"Maybe, just maybe, if you had worked a little harder, Lisanna, you wouldn't have been left behind," Natsu untangled her arms and put a hand on her head. "Afterall, when we fail, who else do we have to blame when we are kept behind but ourselves. You're strong in your way, but not in the way that catches up to me. Like you are strong in a way I am not."

"In what way, that is physically possible, am I stronger than the great Natsu Dragneel-Clive?" Lisanna chuckled, her pink lips turning upwards slightly.

"You're open," Natsu answered bluntly, he gave her a small smile, "I cannot be honest with myself, and keep telling myself that what I'm doing is for the man who raised me, but it is actually just for me. I keep telling myself that I'm getting stronger to protect my friends from what happened; really, my weak spot is my friends, but they make me stronger."

"Love does make people stronger," Lisanna blushed a little, taking Natsu off guard a little. "I wonder who Natsu likes..."

Natsu pulled his eyes away from Lisanna to see Lucy bounding towards them; he smiled while scratching the back of his head, "Finally!" he groaned.

Lucy and Natsu waved at Lisanna as they headed to the school gates; he took her satchel and carried it for her.

"I didn't think you were the type to use a whip," he whistled, hoping she wouldn't get the hidden meaning behind his words. "I thought maybe a dagger or a short sword."

"You've spent too much time with Gajeel, Natsu," Lucy's face was beet red, and her expression became a pout.

The two both walked out of the gates, showing the pass given to them from Makarov which allowed them to leave the school premises. They then jumped in the carriage arranged for them by Makarov, which would take them to any place them decided to go and would leave them there. This meant they had to make their way to the mountain, as the carriage only went to towns or villages, and to make their way back.

"Where are you going, sir and ma'am?" the carriage driver had a slightly southern accent, sounding like he's lived on a farm for a large part of his life.

"Do you know the village slightly west of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts?" Natsu inquired, placing his and Lucy's belongings onto the floor of the carriage. The man nodded, so Natsu continued with his directions, "Please take us to the Clive residence, sir."

The carriage driver took off without another moment of wait. Lucy and Natsu could hear the clicking sound of the horse's steel shoes against the stone floor. Fairly soon the clicking sound vanished, and now the sound of stomping could be heard. At this moment Natsu and Lucy both knew they had left the city.

"It's been three years since I've properly left campus," Natsu sighed, he looked towards Lucy who was giving him a strange look.

"You look sick, are you okay?" She questioned, worry laced in her voice.

"I am not too good with movement that isn't on my own two feet," He laughed sheepishly, looking out the side of the carriage.

"You can rest on my knee if you want."

He took up her offer and placed his head onto her lap, then slowly fell asleep as Lucy played aimlessly with his salmon coloured locks.

* * *

When Natsu awoke, it was because of Lucy shaking his shoulder, looking down at her with her brown orbs.

"Are we here?" Natsu inquired, moving slowly from her lap to sitting up.

"Almost," Lucy smiled slightly, then patted out her black leggings, and straightened out her white blouse. "The man said we'd be there in a couple of minutes."

They sat in a comfortable silence, Natsu began sorting out his clothes. He wanted to look presentable in front of the only woman that raised him and the man that gave him training to make him stronger. He also wondered if Cana would be back yet, but he didn't think she would be.

He wanted out the side of the carriage. Watching as the hills flew past and how, upon entering the small village, all the children and adults would watch as the carriage rolled up to the large house that belonged to the Clive residence.

Natsu found himself fumbling with the hem of his cloth top; as he picked up Lucy's bag, and his own, the carriage driver had already knocked on the door for them. He stepped out the carriage, holding his hand out for Lucy to use.

He heard the creak of the old door - there stood the woman that raised him, even if it was only for a short period. He still felt a large amount of happiness, and it surged through his whole body as fast as a bullet.

"Cornelia," he said through a wide grin. "I came back like I said I would! I told you I never break my promises!"

The woman skipped over the steps and came face-to-face with the boy she considered her son. She felt an immense amount of pride for him; that he had become a man that was worthy of taking on the world.

"Welcome home, Natsu." the brown haired woman touched his cheek lightly, then glanced over to Lucy, who still held Natsu's hand. "Excuse my rudeness. It appears you have brought a guess Natsu, come inside. I'm sure Gildarts will be as thrilled as me."

"The old man is here?" Natsu chuckled, leading Lucy towards the door. "Does that mean Cana is home, or did he just finish a long mission?"

"He just finished a year long mission," Cornelia smiled. She opened the door to the house a little more and led them through the halls. "He was chasing after a supposed deity rank, and seeing as he has now reached the deity rank, the task was given to him by the War God in Crocus. The man he was after... he was too strong. Beyond a deity. Gildarts believes this is the man that took Igneel from you."

"What is beyond the deity rank?" Natsu inquired; he saw red, and his left fist that was not holding Lucy's hand became white.

"Well," Lucy began, "beyond the deity rank is the Demigod rank, then the God rank, and then the Highgod rank. Beyond that are the ones that run the world, sovereigns; Overgods."

"Is there anything beyond the Overgod rank?" Natsu was trying to categorise the place where the man who killed his father would be put.

"That, my boy, would be the Universe Creator." Gildarts smiled weakly, most-likely he had heard over the whole conversation. "The man I faced off against was an Overgod, and if it hadn't have been for Sovereign Makarov, I would surely be dead."

"The man that calls us all 'brats' is a Sovereign?" Natsu's jaw dropped to the floor, "He told me he wasn't anything near that, and he doesn't seem to hold that type of power. I practice in his spiritual fields."

"You can mask your rank if you are of a high enough rank, and make yourself seem weaker so that no one knows your exact rank," Gildarts said, slightly smirking because he knew Makarov liked to trick others.

"Well," Cornelia began, "I think we have a lot to talk about. Please, make yourself at home the both of you." Happy jumped onto the side of the couch, meowing that he was there too, "And you too, Happy."

* * *

It was very late afternoon when Lucy and Natsu set out for their journey into the mountain range. From the Clive home to the mountain range was a short trip, if they could move quickly enough.

"Natsu I'm exhausted." Lucy whined, her panting getting heavier as she used up more and more of her magical energy to speed herself up with wind magic.

"Come here," Natsu held out both his arms, and Lucy walked towards him. "I've not even used it half of what I have, and even after I'm a high ranked warrior. I'll carry you there."

He picked her up like a princess, and with a panther-like speed, he became a blur as he ran towards the north entrance of the mountain range, which is the entrance all the students had to use. He jumped over many large tree trucks, and at one point he flew over the trees with a great jump, almost like a bird.

If he kept moving like this they'd make it to the north entrance in no time.

But, Natsu sensed something. And, it wasn't just anything.

It was something quick and strong. It was quick enough to disturb the wind particles massively and strong enough to make Natsu feel weary about whether he could take on it, or whatever it was moving so quickly.

"Happy," he said quickly through their mental connection, "conceal your strength and check what is coming up on us."

"Aye, sir!" the blue cat-like creature said obediently. Natsu still wondered what kind of breed of beast Happy was.

Natsu kept on moving through the forest, but more slowly this time. He had to be cautious of his surroundings.

He wasn't a high enough rank to sense someone's strength, but with the speed of the thing that was moving towards them, he could tell it was powerful.

Meanwhile, Happy was scouting very carefully. Right now he was moving swiftly alongside what was chasing them. It was a person concealed in black, but on the cape was a red circle with an italic 'A' inside of it.

Around the shadowed man was a belt. Hung from it were different types of darts and knives. There was also a large black bag on the man's bag, which had a bottle attached to it. But Happy could see a glint from behind the bag, and concealed behind it was a thin short sword with a grey hilt.

Happy was still in range with Natsu and decided to contact him, "It's a guy, Natsu. He has a circle with a red 'A' on it."

He continued to stalk out the man, waiting a few minutes for Natsu's reply, "Can you take him out? If not abandon it and we'll try to conceal where we are."

"I can take him out, boss!" Happy's cat-like features grinned with glee.

He pounced out of the bushes and onto the unsuspecting human blur. The shadowed person was not prepared in the least and was taken by surprise to the attack. Happy knocked the stalker out of the air and watched them flail to the side, hitting a tree.

Happy didn't give the strange person a chance to recover before attacking with a fury of sharp-clawed strikes. The person wailed in agony sounding like distress animal. Happy's back became arched and he took up guard this time.

The person recovered quite quickly. They reached for several knives off their belt and threw them like darts towards Happy. He jumped backwards from every one of them, and then as the person began reaching for another set, Happy dived in.

He enlarged his claws and his body using magical energy and swiped straight at the attacker's neck, but the attacker was one step ahead and threw a warning knife to Happy's paw, which grazed his paw slightly. Happy jumped backwards, both him and the attacker waiting for the next ones attack.

"Boss, this person is more strategic than I thought!" Happy jumped backwards from a few more surprise knife attacks and landed on a low tree branch.

"Kitty, I don't have time to play with you," The person in black clothing said harshly. "So, just die already!"

He threw another knife, but it didn't even get to Happy. Natsu had arrived very easily from where he and Lucy waited for Happy.

He let down Lucy and pushed her behind him, "You're from an assassin's group, who are you after?" Natsu inquired, lifting the long sword onto his shoulder like it was nothing.

"Depends," The man said, his face covered with a black hood and face cloth, "Are you protecting the girl?"

"Ah..." Natsu sighed, then grinned, "Looks like I'm going to have to kill you if you're after her then. Mind me asking what rank you are? I don't really go into battles unprepared."

"I'm a fifth rank assassin, what about you, kid?" The two seemed to casually chat, which scared Lucy slightly, her life was in Natsu's hands.

"Well..." Natsu chuckled, using his other hand to scratch the back of his head. "I'm a sixth ranked wind mage, a sixth ranked fire mage, a sixth ranked earth mage; a third ranked destruction mage." Natsu took a deep breath, "And a sixth ranked warrior."

"That's impressive," The Assassin said awestruck. "How old are you?"

"I'm 15," Natsu brought the sword down from his shoulder, "So... we going to fight or what?"

"I know better than to get myself into a fight that will end with me dying, have fun at that mountain range you're heading to, I'll get someone sixth ranked to come deal with the girl." And with that, the person ran. They fled too quickly for Natsu to even register.

Lucy began healing Happy's wounds, while Happy yelled in Natsu mind, "I ranked up to the eighth rank!"

"Rank eight?!" Natsu coughed on his water a little, as he stared at the cat a little.

"What's wrong?" Lucy asked, a little worried, but not too much.

"Happy's a rank eight!"

Lucy spat out her drink also.


	18. Chapter 18

**I'm having a week of non-stop writing because I have a lot of plans for the summer.**

 **I wanted to thank all of the people who have been reviewing; following, and favouriting.**

 **You're all awesome! Keep doing what you are doing!**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 18: First Day In The Mountain Range**_

* * *

Natsu shifted himself in the thin sheet of cloth.

He had been leaning against a tree, while Lucy had been sleeping on the floor with Natsu's bag used as a cushion.

Yesterday, after the attack that had been unexpected, it had become late night. And, because it was so late at night, it caused Natsu to request they stop and sleep for the evening, and then they'd continue on their way to the Mountain Range the next day.

Lucy agreed. She took the comfy spot that Happy had found for himself, and Happy rested on her stomach.

Natsu stayed up till late morning; he was training at the same time as keeping watch. When he finally went to sleep, Happy had woken up and mentally spoke to Natsu, saying that he would stay up while Natsu went to sleep.

Now, Happy and Lucy were the only two sleeping.

The birds chirped their early morning calls, and the soft breeze that caressed Natsu was slowly beginning to fade. He moved away from the tree trunk and stretched out his legs and arms while yawning slightly.

After letting himself wake up properly, he decided to survey the area. He used his wind magic to scan the area around them, only to find certain animals, like a rabbit or a hare, scurrying around randomly.

He grabbed his sword, hoisting it onto his shoulder like a weighted sack. The issue Natsu was in was a little thorny, and he didn't feel it right to leave Lucy unprotected, but he didn't want to keep moving forward without knowing any possible dangers.

He decided to settle with only going to the bushes, but even then, even with his surveying using the wind; he felt like it wasn't enough.

After giving the area another once over, he sat back down against the tree and waited for Lucy and Happy to wake up, slightly drawn towards the way the sun was hiding behind the tallest peak of a mountain. He grabbed a random stick and, using a single finger, set it on fire while waving it around aimlessly.

He snapped out of his coma-like state when he heard Lucy say his name, "Natsu," she said, slightly sleepily, "you're going to burn the whole forest down."

Natsu snapped from his daydream, looking at her as the stick began to burn out, "It won't burn the forest down," Natsu said very quietly, finding the dwindling flame attractive. "The grass and the soil are wet, and the flame has barely any fuel left because I dampened the end of the stick, so I don't burn myself."

He watched as little flecks of burnt wood created a small heap of warmth on the floor, he dropped the stick and put his finger and thumb in his mouth. Lucy watched as he lowered his, now wet, fingers to the weak flame; then he pinched it. It went out within seconds, but Lucy thought it was interesting to watch.

"Are you ready to get moving?" Natsu asked, standing up and holding a hand down to Lucy.

"Yeah," Lucy prodded the still sleeping Happy, then took Natsu hand and he picked her up again. "I can walk myself; you do know that right."

"I do," he replied bluntly, looking down to Lucy in his arm. "But, you're too slow for me; it's a hindrance. I'll let you down when we reach the north point."

Lucy huffed a little, "I don't need a man to look after me, or do things for me, I can do things myself."

"I didn't say you couldn't, Luce," Natsu began moving, Happy bouncing along next to him. "I only believe this is a more efficient way of getting more time in the mountains. I can't wait to see what happens if you get married, and your husband takes a second wife."

Lucy and Natsu laughed, leaving Lucy a little speechless. So, she said the only thing she thought of at the time.

"What if you get married to, say, Lisanna, and you take a second wife after that, what do you think would happen?"

"Well..." Natsu pondered for a second, his eyes wandered to the sky and then back to the path ahead. "I had been raised with only a father and no mother, and when I moved in with Gildarts and Cornelia, that was the only time I had a mother. I'd like to think that, like Gildarts, I will be able to devote myself to one woman."

"I thought Gildarts was your father," Lucy said, confusion laced in her voice, and a bewildered look in her eyes.

"Gildarts took me in when I was rather young after my father was kidnapped in front of my own eyes and his," Natsu vaguely remembered the look of hatred in Gildart's eyes. "He took me into his home; he cared for me, as did his wife, and as did their daughter. They treated me like their own family. So I'd like to start a family where I take to anyone in need of help and aid and make them feel as though they have a family."

"Who was your father? What did he do?" Natsu smiled.

He hadn't talked about his father for years, and although he still thought about Igneel every night, it felt nice to be able to speak about him with Lucy openly.

"My father was a dragon," Natsu jumped over a large, fallen tree, and spoke very slowly so that Lucy would be able to understand him. "He was also a mighty mage."

"If your father was a dragon, and your mother had to be human to give you a human body..." Lucy looked up at him, her fingers scratching her cheek slightly. "Does that not make you half Magical Beast and half human."

"Lucy," Natsu gave her clued-up look, "you know as well as I do that a half Magical Beast and half human being is impossible. Their magical structure isn't the same which would mean that a half breed wouldn't be able to do magic, which I can do. And, even if the Magical Beast were to be in a human form because it's a deity the reproduction of both the human and Magical Beast would be different."

"You're right," Lucy said knowingly, Natsu's words all made sense and held science behind them. "What was I thinking..."

* * *

Gildarts took a long breath in.

He stayed far away from the building he was scoping out. But he used a magical hearing device, which made things from hundreds of meters away sound clear, and an enhanced eye piece, that made things easier to see. The man he was following was no man; it was a beast. A very powerful Magical Beast that Makarov had saved him from, but he still pursued it with a passion.

He watched as the black haired male, wearing a black and white cloth over his shoulders, approached a dark red-haired man, Even from here he could sense that the man was an Overgod, but the black hair male now seemed to be a Highgod.

 _Maybe,_ Gildarts thought, _maybe that black haired man was carrying the object on the day that made him seem more powerful and increases his power? That would be a sovereign rank artifact._

"Do they still refuse to give you the power of a Universe Creator, father?" The black haired boy bowed down before his red haired father.

"Yes, but that is not what makes me weary," the man stood from his chair, moving over to a window and gazing out of it. "What has me weary is that we have my other half, that I have yet to fuse with, Igneel, but it appears he was looking after a child. I believe that child was mine."

"You mean my younger brother that you damned to that pit?" The boy stood, turning to face the strong back of his father. "Why does he matter, he was only my half brother? He was not even a child of my mother. Instead, he was a child of an imperfect human, and you, you, my grand and mighty father. If he has that woman's blood coursing through his veins, he is obviously not as strong as me - a pure blood of our kind."

"No, that is quite right," the man said; Gildarts could see the knowing smirk on the man's face. "Only his mother wasn't a 'weak human,' as you put it. She was an arch-angel of the Universe Creator at the time. That arch-angel was the Universe Creator's human child, making that boy the first ever Magical Beast and human half breed."

"And, if we cannot find him..." the man nodded knowing of what his son was thinking.

"If we cannot locate him, he will kill you, and I will have been fused with Igneel and will hold that boy in a special place in my heart, so I will not be able to kill him. But in my current state, I will also not be able to look at him as he is the bane of my existence. And the one thing that stops me from becoming a Universe Creator."

Gildarts' magical devices burst quietly, meaning that their magical power had drained.

But, he had got enough.

The sky turned dark and grey as he turned and hopped down from the massive cathedral, his thunderous expression never left his face as he dashed toward the Magnolia Institute. He would need to report to Makarov right away and explain his findings.

He now knew who Natsu's mother was and his father.

He also knew what Natsu was.

* * *

Natsu and Lucy arrived at the north point.

In front of them were two guards wearing the uniform of the magic school. They were currently checking Natsu and Lucy's school ID's and quietly talking amongst themselves about work and other things.

After they finished, they handed back the school ID's and parted for Natsu, Lucy and Happy to walk through onto the outskirts of the mountain range. In truth, the north point was only for students so that Makarov knew that any students who went there knew they had arrived safely. Anyone else could just walk in at any time they wanted.

Lucy and Natsu continued on the walk through the outskirts, here it was like a clearing. There were a few trees and bushes, but there were no Magical Beast until you reached the outskirts of the Mountain Range's forest.

The whole forest that belonged to the mountain was like a semi-circle around it, and the closer you went to the central mountain, the higher ranked the beasts would be. The outer circle held one to three ranked beasts, the middle ring held four to seven ranked beasts, and the inner ring held eight to low-saint ranked monsters.

Natsu knew that the seventh ranked Magical Beasts would be near the border of the inner ring, so he didn't think they'd be much danger venturing into the boundary of the middle ring and outer ring.

They walked for another ten minutes before reaching the thick part of the forest.

Natsu looked a Lucy, "Are you ready?" He asked, taking her hand into his.

"Yeah, it just feels like this would never happen. I did not think I would ever come to this place," Lucy smiled, slightly proud of herself for coming this far.

She and Natsu made their way through, finding different berry bushes and pricking themselves on all sorts of plants. The undergrowth in the forest was a little dense, and lots of plants and small bushes covered the ground.

Natsu heard a rustle, and suddenly a little creature jumped out. It readied its claws, a nasty snarl plastered on its face. Natsu quickly unsheathed Dezeus and swung the sword sideways towards the beast. He cut it straight in two, watching as both halves fell from the sky to the floor with a dull thud.

He made a small hole in the head of the beast, only to find no crystal, "It was either a rank one or two because it doesn't have a crystal."

Natsu looked down at his shirt, realising it ripped. He looked at cross-guard of his blade, seeing the other part of his shirt on it. He made a sound of annoyance and ripped off his shirt and tore off the piece connected to his sword.

"I didn't even bring a spare top..." Natsu huffed.

Lucy laughed a little, and soon, after being attack by several rank one and two beasts and a few class three creatures, the two decided it would be safer to sleep in a tree than on the ground.

It was early evening when they found a tree tall enough to stop the attacks, but before going up, Lucy decided she would like to train a little and Natsu wanted to find food and create a fire to cook it. Lucy made herself comfortable on the ground, her legs crossed and palms gently placed on her legs. She entered a deep state of concentration and Natsu went to find something to eat.

He didn't wander too far from Lucy, and soon enough he found a boar. He made a sharp piece of rock raise up into the air and then proceeded to line it up with the unsuspecting boar's neck. He fired it with high speed, but it was deathly silent. Before the boar even registered it had taken a needle of the earth to the neck, it collapsed to the floor, dead.

He picked up the carcass, aimlessly tossing it over his shoulder and heading back to where Lucy was.

When he emerged from the thickness of the bushes into small clearing Natsu and Lucy had found, he saw that Lucy was still peacefully training. He dropped the dead boar onto the ground and began gathering small bits of dry wood and some straw bits that grew on the plants.

He tossed them into a pile in the centre of the ground, making sure that the straw-like bits went on the bottom, then set them on fire using the tip of his index finger.

As the fire grew fiercer and fiercer Natsu made a makeshift spit. He stabbed the carcass of the boar with a long piece of clean metal, that Lucy had brought with her, and then began turning it on the fire.

"Something smells good," Lucy hummed happily, she felt like she had made good progress in her training, "What are you cooking?" She asked opening one eye.

"Boar, is that okay?" Natsu asked, scratching the back of his head.

Lucy nodded, then went back to her training, but was more interested in eating more than anything right now.

After a few hours the food was ready. Natsu shook Lucy's shoulder and told her that it was ready to eat; then he proceeded to used a knife to cut half for him and a qauter for Lucy and Happy.

They sat and ate, Lucy and Natsu talked and laughed. They also arranged what they would do the next day, which ended with deciding that they should stay in the outer ring for another few days and collect some low ranked crystals. Happy also talked to Natsu, who actually wanted to talk to Lucy, so Natsu was playing messenger for awhile.

After eating, they climbed the tree and chose different branches to sleep on.


	19. Chapter 19

**Fairy Tail has ended. Feels a little weird because I've been reading it since the beginning and now it's finished. Did you guys feel satisfied with the ending (if you've read the manga)?**

 **I try to upload weekly! If you have any question message me, I try to reply all the time!**

 **This story will still be going on even after the end, so I hope you stay interested in it.**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 19: The First Attacks...**_

* * *

It had been a total of three days that had passed since Natsu and Lucy entered the outer ring of the Moutain Range.

In those three days, they had collected more than fifty Magical Beast crystals at the third rank or more. They had also stockpiled hundreds of non-lethal berries, which had been found the hard way as Happy seemed to each everything edible, and managed not to get injured by any weak beast attacks.

It was now early morning; the sky, painted with golds and oranges, gently faded to become blue. Natsu and Lucy were always awake at this time, while Happy slept a little longer.

Natsu hopped down from the branch that he had perched on for the last three nights. Tonight he and Lucy, along with Happy, would be half way to the outer ring and middle ring border. That was if no problems popped up, or they walked slower than usual.

"I feel as if I have not spoken to you in a long time, boy," Dezeus' rough voice filled Natsu's head, slightly startling the salmon-haired teenager. "I am also very aware that you have not trained in the destruction element for a rather long time."

"Yeah, I had a few questions about that," Natsu picked up the sword, hooking it onto the strap on his back. "Recently, it's been hard to feel any destruction in the area. When I look around the only damage particles I see are the ones in Happy and in me, but not in anyone else. They are not even on the ground which is stupid because there have been several earthquakes."

He heard Dezeus murmuring slightly, too hushed to make out any words, but still a murmur, "The girl does not have a single ounce of destruction in her?"

"Dezeus! That's beside the point," Natsu yelled back gruffly, still sleep deprived of the night before.

"The reason you cannot feel any of the destruction particles is that she is blocking them - unintentionally, of course - but, nevertheless she is. She takes them in and changes them to light energy," Dezeus grumbled, "That is what her kind do..." he added faintly at the end, thinking that Natsu couldn't hear.

"Her kind? She's human, what are you talking about?" Natsu inquired, his brain slightly overloading with all the riddles-like sentences Dezeus said.

He waited several seconds for a reply, but none came. He huffed, feeling anger bubble inside his stomach.

Lucy appeared from the coverage of the bushes, now changed into new clothes that they washed at a near by stream. Natsu still had no top, and he didn't feel a problem with it at all, but Lucy had argued with him that he needed to find a new top or at least cover up himself.

"I have a theory," Dezeus began, he seemed to be in a broad chain of thought. "She may be being targetted because of who her father is."

"That is plausible," Natsu nodded his head slightly, making Lucy stare at him in wonder because she didn't see his mouth move.

He didn't get a reply for the powerful spirit, so he walked towards Lucy. He was prepared to go and move towards the boundary of the outer and middle ring, but Lucy was still slightly against it.

Having only been in the forest a few days, she felt like something was off. At all turns her and Natsu took, she felt like there was a presence watching them; stalking them. Like they were harmless animals, prey, and that the stalker was worked animal, ready to have its fill.

Happy also felt the presence, and he enlarged himself to the size of a fully grown panther to try and scare the enemy off. Happy's correct size was unknown because he was always changing how he looked, and his power was steadily increasing and growing at an alarming rate.

"Are we ready to go?" Natsu pumped his fist into the air, giving off a small grin.

"We should stop by a stream to get clean water, and also collect some herbs and fruits," Lucy stated, counting off things that the group needed on her fingers. "Maybe gather the meat for tonight along the way, but, apart from that, we should be all good!"

Lucy let out a long sigh, smiling a little as she picked up her bag.

"Alright, alright," Natsu placed a rough hand on the top of her head, ruffling her blonde locks a little. "After all, you're in charge of keeping us all healthy."

The trio slowly began moving through the forest's outer ring. The sound of fallen twigs and dry leaves crunching beneath their feet seemed to be much quieter than usual.

Natsu could barely sense any Magical Beasts; the few he could sense scattered out of the range of his wind magic before he could deem them a threat.

Happy stalked along beside Lucy, his large paws creating prints on the ground. His large eyes gazed at his surroundings, carefully surveying the area.

The three moved with caution, unaware of the enemy that walked alongside them...

* * *

"What do you mean they've gone, you big oaf?" Gajeel stared down at Lisanna's daggered eyes that could probably cut his throat. "They were not supposed to leave until Gray and Juvia do!"

The large boy clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, his sharp eyes portraying his annoyance. But the white haired girl didn't mind, in fact, she seemed unfazed by them.

"Listen," Gajeel said in a rough voice, tapping on the door that his right hand held. "Blondie and that flame freak left a few days ago, and Gray and Juvia left after that. They did what they said they were gonna' do, I ain't got a problem with that."

"Of course you don't," Lisanna seethed angrily, tapping her foot against the floor. "You are just a bumpkin from a low-class family; you must be used to people leaving."

Gajeel growled like an animal, his red eyes flickering madly. He flung open the wooden door, and as he stepped out onto the corridor, he slammed it behind him. Lisanna backed away from him.

"I understand you miss him," Gajeel spoke slowly, his words dripping with venom. "I guess you love him, and that you want him. But, bring my family into this again, and I'll cut your legs from under you."

Lisanna gulped and nodded, before dashing off down the corridor and up the stairs to her room.

His room door opened from behind him, and a small, blue-haired girl, wearing orange glasses and holding a tome in her hand, came out. She had a side bag on her, filled with rations and money and a few sets of clothes.

"Was threatening her necessary?" Levy asked, peering up from behind the magical tome. "I don't think it was."

"She'll never talk about my family again though," Gajeel replied gruffly, walking into the room and picking up his bag.

The two began to walk down the corridor, taking their time as Levy wanted to read and walk. Gajeel was in charge of making sure she didn't bump into anyone, or walk into a wall, or possibly fall down the stairs.

When she was about to do one of these things, he'd grab her collar and lightly tug her to his side, and then he'd push her back out and let go of her collar. It was a simple yet effective idea of his.

Until he was the one to bump into somebody.

After walking down to the first floor, Gajeel had been too busy making sure Levy didn't crash into anyone that he went and crashed into an insanely annoying face.

"Gajeel," he looked down at the sixteen, or seventeen, year old wearing a formal shirt along with a suit vest.

"Bora," Gajeel grunted back, glaring down at the male.

"Where is Juvia, I wanted to apologise to her and see if she'd take me back," Bora sneered, not wanting to talk to the rough boy in front of him.

Gajeel grabbed Bora collar, lifting him into the air like a ragdoll, but he wasn't the one to threaten or even utter a word to Bora. Instead, he was the muscle power, used to scare Bora, who was weak from his last fight with an older student.

"She has gone," Levy said, her eyes seething with anger that this man was so ignorant. "She's gone with Gray to train because she's only a third rank, and she does not want to see you. Again."

Gajeel dropped the man on his ass, accidentally kicking him along the way.

Bora only smiled, "I wonder if that Assassin has told Lucy I said 'hi' yet."

* * *

Natsu took a deep breath.

It took a split second for him and Lucy to be separated by a Magical Beast, but it took a little more than that to realise the person that had been following them had tamed that beast.

How he, Lucy and Happy had got into this situation was beyond Natsu's comprehension. He had ruled out a kidnapping, and also ruled out some bartering or threatening from the Assassin. So, therefore, in his mind, he ruled out that this was to spark a fire in Lucy's father.

 _Maybe some revenge,_ Natsu thought to himself, as he jumped out of the way of the Magical Beast's mighty claw.

The beast was part of the dragon family. If the head shape of the dragon didn't give that away, then the large wings and chunky legs with thick, overgrown razors on its feet must be a giveaway.

Happy jumped up onto the beasts head and began to scratch away at it like he was dulling his claws on a large boulder. Happy couldn't break through the tough, bull-tinted scales of the beast, then swiped at its beady yellow eyes instead.

While the dragon was occupied, Natsu took a chance. He could glimpse Lucy fighting the stranger, but because the dragon was so huge, he wasn't able to jump over it.

He began his run around the dragon, unlatching his sword and stopping at the dragon's hind legs. He took the blade and started forcing it through the scales, which Happy couldn't break through, and slowly they began to crack.

He pulled the sword up again and then thrust it back down with all his strength, releasing an unruly yell of annoyance. Again, and again, and again until the scales broke and Natsu plunged his sword into the flesh of the beast.

Meanwhile, all Lucy could hear was the sound of her blood pumping around her body in her ears.

She was glaring at the masked man, but she could feel his heated stare and sinister grin. She was already prepped for her first attack.

It wasn't anything fancy or flashy, but she needed to give herself some time to think of a plan of action. She raised one hand and muttered some words. The cloaked figure watched her and began laughing.

"Your first spell - the game changer spell - and it didn't work?" The mans laugh echoed, bouncing around the empty woods.

"Who said it didn't work?" Lucy smirked.

She had held back her magic long enough that when she released her first attack, the light was blinding. The man scrambled covering his eyes and cursing Lucy loudly.

She then raised her hands again, this time she began slowly floating in the sky.

The man was still in shock from the blinding light and didn't notice, that below his feet, Lucy had started working on a magical circle that sapped away his energy and gave it to her.

It was a powerful attack that had taken her months to hone and years to learn. Light magic could give power to others and heal their wounds, but in some cases, it can be reversed to provide the light magic user energy.

The only two downfalls to her attack were that it was a slightly slower process than healing, and also only worked on someone weaker than her, the same rank as her, or one rank above her.

It did not affect this man.

Natsu watched as the dragon writhed in agony, then nodded to Happy, "You finish up here!"

Natsu jumped over the slumped dragon, beads of sweat ran down his face and dripped onto its scales. He looked at Lucy, who sends multiple spikes of light infused with wind spikes towards the man, slightly cutting and scratching him.

Natsu took this chance, and raise his sword above his head. He jumped from the dragon's body and yelled while slicing downwards. The man turned his attention to Natsu, who fell a few feet away from him with his sword level with his waist.

"You overestimated yourself." With that, the man opened his hand with a quick snap, and a ball of darkness hit Natsu in his gut.

"Or did I," the masked figure felt the wind being knocked from his lungs, and he was flung back against a tree. "Ignis!"

A ball of golden falls flew at high speed towards the man. He raised his arms into a cross and took the hit of the destruction magic.

Natsu kept his sword and his ears alert, but swiftly moved in front of Lucy. He watched as the figure raised from the smoke to reveal two burns on both his forearms and black, greasy hair that hung just above his eyebrows.

"That was sneaky, kid. Using the Truths of The Elements before reaching saint level. I wonder who taught you that." The man coated his arms in black, and it was gas-like with hints of purple, "Let's see how you do against this."

"We don't have to see," Natsu said, watching as colour slowly faded from the man. "I knew you were a rank seven since we started fighting, and didn't want to take any chances. So while Lucy was attacking you, I created a magical ring of my own, seeing as we're not far apart regarding rank."

"Then all you had to do was hit me into it, and bam!" The man hit his chest with two arms, "I start to waste away in your destruction circle."

The man's clothes fell to the ground because of how skinny he had gotten from the destruction ring. He raised an arm in front of his face, looking at his pale skin that began to turn grey.

"Be prepare for the hazing Bora has for you..."


	20. Chapter 20

**We're on chapter 20! I'm excited about this chapter because I told myself every 20 chapters I would take a suggestion from you guys and make it into a side story!**

 **Leave your reviews on what you want the side story to be (maybe it's a Gruvia story, or maybe it's what happens at the warriors Institute with Erza!), and I'll pick a few of my favourites!**

 **Enjoy this latest chapter!**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 20: The Pack**_

* * *

Natsu strolled over to the ashes.

The man that he had just watch decay and crumble before his eyes had gone. But he knew this wasn't the end of the attacks. If it was Bora behind these attacks, he was aware that Bora would throw everything he had in his arsenal at them and more.

He kicked at the pile of grey dirt, watching as it reached high into the sky and then dissipated into nothingness. He crouched down, taking the bag that the Assassin had, and the clothes that had survived the decaying.

He opened the black bag, peering inside to see its contents.

He reached deep into the bag and pulled out a handful of crystals that had come from beasts of the fifth rank. They rolled off his fingertips back into the bag, making a light clinking sound as they did.

He opened the side pocket of the bag, pulling out a small map and notebook, and a few other bits of paper that didn't make sense to Natsu. He placed them on the floor beside him and continued rummaging through the bag.

He pulled out a few more bits of paper with small, yet elegant handwriting on them. He pulled out rations that would last three days; the rations consisted of bread and water in a flask and lots of fruits.

He tipped the bag upside down, pouring out many magical beast crystals of assorted colours and ranks.

He eyed the bag carefully. _Something is missing_ , he thought to himself.

Although Natsu had emptied the bag of all its contents, he could still feel a significant weight in the bag, and when he shook it, he could hear a light jingling. He placed his hand in the bag again, feeling around the bottom of it.

His fingers roughly grazed a corner right in the very left corner of the bag. He flicked his forefinger underneath it, then his second finger, and so on until his pinky finger could reach under it.

He pulled at it, ripping it from the bottom of the bag. It was sealed shut like it had been nailed or sealed with magic, but Natsu's brute strength had rendered it useless.

He placed the board on the floor, looking at the black panel with different cravings. He could faintly see the outline of many of a magical circle and various magic letterings that he couldn't read. He placed his hand back into the bag.

His fingers curled around a chain and a leather pouch, and he lifted them in front of his face. The chain was made from gold and had a small, dark purple crystal hanging from it. And the pouch held a hefty sum of gold inside of it.

"Can you read any magical letterings?" Natsu turned to Lucy, who had sat on the floor in shock.

She gulped and nodded, "Yeah," she said softly.

"On this crystal, there are some small letters that I can't read or make out, maybe you can?" he walked towards her, noticing how her spine was ramrod straight and her eyes were wide. "Are you afraid of me now?"

He crouched down in front of her, looking at her arm that had begun to bleed from her fall. He ripped a small part of the, now dead, Assassin's shawl and wrapped it around her wound.

"No," Lucy glared at him as she spoke sternly, "you are just reckless and idiotic, and you can kill so quickly. What would you have done if it were me that had accidentally fallen into that circle?"

He looked up at her, his eyes were soft, but his mouth was tightly shut in a line. He handed her the necklace and Lucy's brown; doe eyes wandered over it. Neither of them uttered a word.

Natsu turned from her and stared deep into the forest, "I would have dived into it and pushed you out." He could feel Lucy's eyes burning into the back of his head, but he continued, "I was in a place where it would be easy for me to switch places with whoever was inside the circle, just in case you did fall into it. I wouldn't be able to get myself out afterwards, but if you were the one in there... it would have been a worthy sacrifice."

"So, you were prepared to die for me if I had been the one in that circle?" Lucy asked, feeling rather cherished by Natsu, but also seething with anger that he would throw his own life away so carelessly.

"The moment we came out here, into this forest, I was prepared to lay down my life to make sure you got out of here alive." Natsu turned around and grinned at her, holding the black bag in one hand and the pouch of gold in the other. "In here, it's just you and me. We have to look out for each other."

Lucy nodded, and the silence that was once uncomfortable and tense was now a little more relaxed.

Natsu began packing away the things that he had just pulled out from the bag, placing all the crystals and scrap pieces of paper inside, then he piled on the rations after.

The one thing he didn't put away was the brown, leather bound note book. Instead, he opened it and saw different drawings and sketches of weapons. One of them looked similar to Dezeus, but the hilt was a dragon, it was a serpent.

He read the caption under it, 'The Serpent Sword, a mighty sword that feeds off the envy of others. If used correctly, it can feed off the users envy and kill'. Natsu's eyes moved to the top of the page, and read the title, 'The Seven Deadly Swords.'

"Dezeus, what does the dragon represent in the seven deadly sins?" Natsu knew that Dezeus had read his mind.

"The dragon represents wrath, Natsu." Dezeus said gruffly, knowing that Natsu had found out about the set of swords that seven OverGods were trapped into, "I feed off your wrath."

* * *

Gray took another knife from his belt.

He infused it with water and sent it slicing through the air towards a tree. When it hit the tree it stayed in place, the water never moving from the knife.

Grey mumbled a few words, closing his eyes as he concentrated. He ignored the sweat that trickled down his face, or the water that cascaded down his back from the waterfall he was under.

He opened his eyes and spoke the last few words, and the water around the knife exploded, making the tree rip open and blast tree bark in all directions, including towards him.

He closed his eyes and crossed his arms in front of his head, waiting for the stray tree bark to hit him, but it never did. He opened his eyes to see Juvia stood in front of him, her hands out wide as multiple dots of water stayed in the air, holding the tips of bark in them.

He watched as she lowered her arms, her blue hair now flat and drenched from being under the waterfall, and her clothes sagging on her body from the amount of water they had soaked in.

"Thanks, Juvia," Gray spoke quite roughly, he was not annoyed at Juvia, but at himself.

"Gray does not have to thank Juvia, Juvia is happy to protect Gray while he works on his new technique," she smiled at him, her eyes closed and a large, not broad smile on her face.

"Maybe we should take a break," Gray suggested, looking at the destroyed area. He picked himself up and then moved to stand next to Juvia.

The two had been practising for a long time now, and no matter how much the tried and experimented, Gray could not control the blast like his father had taught him how to as a child.

Gray looked at the blue-haired girl, who still stood beside him. His eyes widen at the sight of her cheek that was bleeding. The water must not have caught one of the spikes from the explosion; he thought as he ripped off a small part of his white shirt.

"Juvia, you're bleeding!" Gray placed the ripped cloth under the waterfall, making sure it was damp before putting it to her cheek.

She took her hand and put it on top of his, "Juvia thinks Gray is caring and kind. Juvia loves Gray."

She passed out in his arms, her body had exerted itself too much, and now she was paying the price for it. He rested her on the floor, using a soft sack as a pillow.

"Stop saying that all the time, I already know." Gray's cheeks flushed a little as he rested his chin on his hand.

* * *

Natsu, Lucy and Happy paused for a second.

They had been walking all day and only now did they hear the low growling that came from the bushes beside them. They froze, not daring to move.

"When I say go," Natsu began, he was sweating profusely, and his eyes had grown enormous, and his pupils had dilatated, "jump on Happy's back."

Only now did Natsu realise the actual threat of what they were facing. A pack of hungry, wild magical beasts had been following them. He could tell from using the wind particles that they were large and prepared for their assault.

A pack of starving, and spontaneous wolves.

Lucy nodded her head slightly, while Happy stretched out his paws to make an easier starting sprint. These wolves were of the sixth rank, and if there was only three of them, Happy and Natsu could have taken care of it.

But, there wasn't three - there was ten!

"Go!" Natsu yelled, hurtling off into the forest straight ahead.

He used his wind magic to speed himself up a little and also used a tiny flame to let Happy know which way he was going. He could hear the sound of paws hitting the ground behind him, but these weren't Happy's paws because Lucy and Happy had gone a different way.

He extinguished the flame. Cursing under his breath, he leapt forward. He kicked off a tree with his right foot, making him fly high up into the trees.

Only now did he get a good look at the rabid wolves, who snarled and drooled. He didn't want to stay around and see if they could climb.

He jumped from tree to tree, the wolves on the ground following him were hot on his trail. Occasionally they would try and jump up and nip at the heels of his feet, and whenever they did that he would jump to a tree on the other side and continue moving.

From the looks of it, the majority of the wolves seemed to have followed him, which meant Happy could most likely take care of one or two of the wolves on his and Lucy's trail and keep themselves safe.

Natsu, on the other hand, would have to run till he lost the wolves. And, that didn't seem like it was going to happen anytime soon.

"Natsu!" Natsu recognised the voice, but he didn't have time to put a face to it.

The yell had come from in front of him, and within seconds he could see red hair and blue hair on the ground.

"Erza!" Natsu yelled back, jumping onto the ground and continuing his running, "Unless you, the blue-haired guy and I can take on seven sixth ranked wolves we should get out of here!"

"I agree with the pink haired boy, we should get out of here," the blue-haired boy spoke, turning on his heels and preparing to run.

"Agreed, it seems we are out numbered." Erza turned on her heels too, taking off with the male.

In a split second Natsu was in front of them, "I lost Lucy and Happy while these things were chasing us, anyways why are you guys out here?"

"I don't think this is time for a casual chat," the man with a red scar over his eye said, slightly confused as to what was going on. "I think we should focus on saving our own asses."

"I came out here because apparently you and Lucy were out here, and meant to be meeting up with Gray and Juvia soon," Erza said, ignoring her partner's words of wisdom.

"We are," Natsu said, "next week, I mean. Who's this guy?"

The pack of wolves slowed down slightly, "I'm Jellal, and I think we should head into the trees and wade them out. I can mask our scent."

"How can you do that?" Natsu inquired.

"By using my darkness magic, I can mask us into our surroundings and we can hide amongst the trees." Natsu nodded, bending his legs and jumping into the trees.

"That's the best plan I've heard!" Jellal and Erza silently followed after him, whilst Jellal mumbled some incantations.

They perched on different branches. Natsu was on a branch above Jellal and Erza's, who had decided to stick on the same branch to make it easier to mask their scents.

They waded out the padding of paws that went straight under them and then waited for a bit of time after. After checking that the coast was clear, Natsu jumped down onto the ground and sighed heavily.

"Time to find Luce!" He pumped his fist into the air and turned to Jellal and Erza. "You two coming or not?"

The trio moved forward into the darkness.


	21. Chapter 21

**I don't know when I will post the side chapter, but when I do, it'll have '.5' next to the number of the chapter that came before it.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 21: The Man Who Became Beast...**_

* * *

Erza and Jellal followed slowly behind Natsu; both were silently wondering how Natsu could walk in any direction and think that it would lead them to Lucy.

Did he have an innate ability that allowed him to find any missing friends or family? Or, was he just fluking it? Hoping and praying that it was the right way to Lucy and Happy? Or was it something else?

Neither Jellal nor Erza could figure it out. But they still followed him blindly through this blinding darkness of a forest.

Natsu wondered about it too.

As a child, running around the village, that was like a giant maze to him, he always managed to find his way home. Even if he went into the forest and turned and swerved off of a straight course, then slept for a few moments, he'd still find his way home to the Clive residence in time for their family dinner.

"Can you contact Happy? He'll be able to lead us to where he and Lucy are," Erza placed her hand on a twig while talking calmly.

"I didn't even think of doing that - good idea!" Jellal sighed as Natsu replied cheerily; Erza made a fist and brought it to the middle of her forehead, hitting herself.

They continued wandering through the dense vegetation. Natsu moved at a much faster pace than Erza and Jellal, who strolled behind scanning their surroundings.

"Happy, buddy? Are we within range of each other?" Natsu tried to reach out to Happy through their mental connection.

Everything was silent for awhile, but then a high pitched voice came through in his head, "Lucy's injured! She can't heal herself! She's passed out." The voice was rapid, shooting different short sentences at Natsu.

"Where are you?" Natsu asked in a hurry. His eyes became sharp, and his fists began shaking.

"We went back to the old camp."

Natsu turned to Erza and Jellal, who were watching him. They knew, just from how zigzagged his spine had become that something had gone wrong. He nodded to them, taking off at full speed.

The three swiftly made their move. The leaves rustled as they shot past at an incredible speed, and the crunching of twigs beneath their feet quickly faded into the padding on dirt.

Natsu moved quicker than the others; he didn't care if he used every ounce of stamina he had or if he used all his magical energy in a second by pushing himself this hard. He had promised to protect Lucy and now look what had happened; she was bleeding; she was unconscious, and he wasn't there to help her.

Natsu stopped dead in his tracks.

His ears perked up like a beast, and his spine became a jagged broken sword. He moved his eyes sharply left and right, then turned and did the same. He closed his eyes, watching as the fire, wind and destruction particles mingled together in his surroundings. He watched as the wind particles bobbed softly in open space.

Then he saw it.

A creature was lying low in the bushes. Just from how it was hunched over, and how the particles moved along its long body, Natsu could roughly figure out the ranking of the beast. A rank six monster.

"Erza, Jellal," he pointed a finger in the direction they should head. "Head straight that way."

After they left Natsu unlatched his sword, allowing it to taste his blood once again. He swung it left and right to warm himself up and jumped on the spot a little. He began creating a golden ball of heat and fire in his hands, then with one swift motion, it hurtled towards the beast.

The beast was not quick enough to dodge the hurtling ball of violent fire and became fatally scorched by it as it hit the beast directly in its chest, causing it to fly back into a tree. Natsu planted his feet firmly in the ground and raised his sword to his side, aiming it directly at the beast.

He pushed off with incredible speed, causing a loud booming noise to be heard which made birds all around fly, in flocks, away from the scene.

Natsu sword pierced the beasts think skin that acted like armour, it was a War Bear beast. They were formidable with their tough hides and large paws that could topple a tree, but they were slow and couldn't move as fast as Natsu.

He had gotten lucky. If it had been one of the wolves that he had encountered before, he wouldn't have won so easily against it.

Natsu pulled out his sword, sighing out heavily as he did so.

He was about to sheath the blade until he heard loud claps from behind him.

He turned to see a tall, long red-haired man, with dimples in his cheeks and a wide grin with perfect white teeth behind him. The man wore a long robe that was black with gold trimmings. But, the man's eyes are what caused Natsu to be on guard. They were a dark purple, like the night, and were sharp and held some happiness as the man had watched the killing.

" _Bene Factum!_ Well done!"The man had yelled in a language Natsu didn't recognise or understand, but he could guess that it meant 'well done' in another language. "My name is Adrian Belldon. I've been sent here to kill the girl, but that's already done. So I'll kill you next!"

* * *

Jellal and Erza left Natsu behind.

They didn't want to, but they had to. Erza and Jellal had a lack of information about how Lucy was, or how bad her injuries were, and so Erza had prioritised that over having to fight with Natsu.

Jellal had masked their scent to make sure that, if that beast had any friends with it, they wouldn't be able to follow them. While Erza was on guard holding her double edge sword that had been gifted to her by a warrior that saved her life when she was younger.

She clutched the sword, turning her knuckles white.

"She is going to be okay, Erza," Jellal said in a rough voice, his black cape flapping behind him. "Just focus on the task ahead, I'll take care of everything else. I promise you this."

Erza nodded, her cheeks turning red for a short amount of time, releasing her intense grip on the handle of her sword by a fraction.

The two broke through into a clearing, where they saw a huge blue panther striking at people clothed in black around them. The beast stayed close to Lucy, swiping at anyone who tried to attack her body.

Erza and Jellal nodded to each other. There were about six or seven of these people clothed in all black, most likely assassins, and there were three of them.

The two snuck up behind two of the unsuspecting assassins, while Erza only knocked out the one she had chosen to take down, Jellal took a more brutal approach, but one that would benefit them.

He had used his dark magic to project hallucinations in the eyes of the assassin, causing the killer to think that there were enemies in place of his fellow assassins. This caused the assassin to go berserk, taking out his weapons and attacking one of the unknowing assassins.

"What are you doing?" The other assassin yelled in surprise as the berserk assassin attack them, "There are others here! Get them!"

Erza readied her sword, as did Jellal, and they bother headed into the thick of the battle. Erza deflected one of the blows of an assassin who had jumped towards her, sending the killer back. They stumbled on their feet a little, but swiftly caught their balance.

Happy kept on protecting Lucy's unresponsive body, swiping this way and that way. Only ever managing to scratch his opponents, because of his defensive position.

"Blue panther thing, I don't know your name, but switch!" Jellal ordered while yelling, jumping up into the air to switch places with Happy.

Happy was unable to respond back because he wasn't at a rank where he could talk to others. He merely growled and dived onto an assassin that tried to catch Jellal, sinking his teeth into the killer's neck.

Jellal's choice in weapons were slightly peculiar, he had a long silver chain, like the ones used to tie around prisoners hands, with a black sickle head attached to the end.

Jellal held onto the chain near to the sickle head, deciding that he'd only used half the chain for these close quarters combat. The sickle dropped to the floor but didn't stay there for long as Jellal picked it up. He spun around and chucked it towards one of the assassins.

The assassin was too awe-struck to move, and when he finally came around, he only had enough time to side step and lost his right arm in the process.

Jellal turned his body to the left and pulled the chain to the left also. The chain began to wrap around the assassin, who tried to comprehend what was happening but couldn't.

After the chain wrapped around several times, the sickle pierced through the assassin's stomach.

Jellal tugged the chain to the right, unwrapping it from around the dead assassin.

He looked around to see that all the killers were dead and that he, Erza and the blue panther were the only ones still standing.

"Jellal, help Lucy." She ordered, watching as Jellal dropped down to his knees and began looking for any fatal wounds.

The only dangerous wound he found was a large gash on the front of her head, which was easily treated with the ointment that the head of their school had given them. It allowed deeps wounds, that would take weeks to heal, to recover within hours.

"Natsu should have been here by now," Was the only thing Erza said before the three began to make sure Lucy was as comfortable as possible.

* * *

"What the hell do you want?" A low growl that was Natsu voice echoed around the forest.

The crazy looking Assassin named Adrian still had a creepy, broad smile on his face. He reminded Natsu a little of one of the people that worked with Gildarts called 'Clown'. He was given that name for a good reason.

Much like Clown, Adrian had a pale face and red lips, and both of their hair was slicked back and long. Clowns was a lot more elegant than crazy and weren't a blood red but more of a dark brown.

"I've already said, I'm here to kill you," Adrian took three of the knives from his belt, juggling them around like a mad man. "I've had a bone to pick with your father, Gilarts, for quite some time. He gave me a nasty scar."

Adrian pulled away a cloak, which gave Natsu a clear view on a violent scar that ran down Adrian's face like a river. The stream travelled down his body rapidly, until the scar faded into his body.

"I've always wanted..." Adrian licked his lips, then licked the tip of his knife, "To kill everyone close to him!"

With a maniacal laugh, he began to throw the knives towards Natsu, who quickly turned on his heels and used his sword to block them. Natsu didn't think about any plan. Instead, he charged forward, still deflecting the knives thrown his way.

"Let's dance, my puppet!" Adrian yelled, running towards Natsu, which stopped the barrage of knives being hurtled towards Natsu.

Natsu took a swing for Adrian, but the red-haired man gracefully dodged and leapt behind Natsu. The Adrian threw a knife towards Natsu back. But he side stepped, and the knife was an inch away from grazing his skin.

"I don't dance, and I am not a puppet!" Natsu took another swing, but this time he fainted the attack and made it look like he was turning to the left, but he used wind magic to speed himself to the right and jumped behind Adrian and took a swing towards his back.

There was a whoosh of air that caught Natsu in the face, his eyes widen, and his back becomes straighter than the edge of a blade.

Adrian had turned around in half a second and stopped Natsu blade with the sole of his boot. Natsu tried to force his way through but he couldn't, and when Adrian pushed back, Dezeus went soaring through the sky, planting itself in the ground.

Adrian took his palm and shoved it into Natsu chest. He crashed into a tree. His head felt light, but he shook it off and tried to make a run for his sword.

 _If I can get there... I need to get there... Come on, body! Move and get there!_ Natsu yelled at himself internally as he tried to run as fast as he could.

"Come on-!" Natsu felt two feet on his back, and he felt his body crash into the floor.

"There is a difference between you and me, _puer._ " Adrian pressed his heel into Natsu's spine, "One of us, I won't say which one, has a higher rank and more experience than the other. That's why... you died."

Natsu felt a sharp pain come from his back, making its way slowly through his skin, past his ribs, past his lungs, barely grazing his heart, and threw into the ground. Then he felt the pressure stop.

He coughed up a hefty amount of blood onto the grass.

"Tell me a story, _puer,_ " Adrian chided, sitting near Natsu's face, "Make it a good one."

"I'll... kill you." Natsu coughed up more blood, his voice was no longer strong, but in fact was extremely hoarse and weak, he felt like his world was caving in around him.

Natsu placed his hands on the floor, listening as Adrian spoke, "Next I'll kill your precious little friends you care about so much, the ones that were here with you. Then maybe..."

Adrian had a sinister laugh, and a grin that spread wide across his face, "I'll deflower that blonde girl's body."

"Don't... touch... Luce," Natsu breathed out, pushing himself up.

Now he was on his knees, looking at Adrian straight in the eyes, he grabbed the point of the sword and began pushing it back out his body. Screaming in agony as he did so.

"If you... touch... my friends. I will..." Natsu felt himself collapsing again, he felt his eyes become dark and his body give way from underneath him. "Kill you..."

 _"You're weak, Natsu. How do you expect to protect anyone with the weakness you hold within you. You refuse to remember anything about who you really are, who Igneel taught you who you really are."_ A voice said inside Natsu's head, he saw himself. Only as a young child. _"Let me remind you."_

 _"Natsu!" Igneel yelled out to the small pink-haired boy, who scratched at the wall with his fingers. "Snap out of it!"_

 _Igneel turned Natsu around, only to find that his son's onyx eyes had become red and that there were scales cascading down his face. Amongst all his hair there were two small horns growing, but not enough to protrude._

 _"I taught you to control this, don't let it control you!" Igneel flicked Natsu in the head, causing Natsu to flinch backwards but then snarl._

 _He lunged forwards, his hand turning into scales and sharp claws replacing his finger nails. He reached out and stabbed Igneel through the leg._

 _Only then did Natsu return to his senses and quickly change from that form to his human one, consoling himself. Igneel had already begun healing, but that didn't stop him from flicking Natsu on the head, once again._

 _"This is who you are, son, and there's only a matter of time to how long you can forget about who you are."_

Natsu's eyes opened, not black, but red.

Slowly scales started forming on his skin, and wings sprouted from his back. They looked like angel wings but burnt and had a dragon like texture to them. His horns were now larger and came at least five centimetres above his head.

Natsu pushed out the sword and looked at Adrian who still had his eyes closed in a tree. Natsu didn't know how long he had been unconscious for, but it had been awhile as the sky was now golden and not orange.

He set his hands on fire, and then pinched his wound closed and burned it, melting the skin to make a scar.

Adrian opened one eye and watched as Natsu looked at him dead in the eye.

"What rank did you say you were, Adrian?" Natsu's voice hadn't changed.

"Eighth rank." Adrian gulped, sweat now starting to form on his head.

In front of him was a man, that had raised from the dead, to become a beast. This must only be a sign that hell will rain upon the earth for there to be such a monster...


	22. Chapter 22

**I now have a Wattpad account, and I'm posting this story on this story on there too.**

 **If you guys want, you can find my _account under the name 'JxzzyRocks.' I'm also going to be posting a new story on_** **_there_ _if_** ** _you guys want to check it out!_**

 **Enjoy the latest chapter!**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 22: Revelation**_

* * *

Erza began pacing, while Jellal watched Lucy for any signs of consciousness.

"Natsu should be back by now," Erza stopped her walking abruptly, it had been hours. "He cannot be lost because he is the one who sent us to Lucy, so that is not an option. He must have had a setback, maybe the beast over powered him."

Jellal sighed, he understood why Erza was so frantic. If Natsu and Lucy had come together than them being split up would be terrifying for her to wake up to, especially considering the immense amount of time they had spent away from each other.

"Erza, the best thing you can do now is to be here for Lucy. When she wakes up she'll be in a state of panic caused by her head trauma; she'll be even more confused about what is going on because you and I are here and Natsu isn't. I am sure he'll turn up eventually, as you've told me before, he always does."

Jellal looked to his side, watching as Lucy's chest weakly raised and fell, and how Happy was devoted to staying by her side. Jellal checked Lucy's pulse every-so-often to make sure Lucy was healing; her pulse was getting stronger every time he checked.

He then glanced over at Erza; he admired her for some reason. She was strong, yet beautiful; she was a born leader, a talented swordswoman, and a caring person. Her loyalty to her friends was unwavering.

"You are worried about him?" Jellal questioned, fiddling with the chain of his sickle.

"He has ten minutes." Erza forcefully said, "If he isn't here within ten minutes we place Lucy onto Happy's back and head back the way we came."

Jellal scratched the back of his head, why was this woman such a rough diamond? It's a question even he can't answer, even after the four years they had known each other.

"You never told me where you came from; we were rudely interrupted by a pack of deadly wolves." Chuckled Jellal as he gestured for Erza to sit in front of him.

"I come from an island south of Fiore, though it may not have been on the continent it was still classed as a part of the mainland," Erza sighed, taking about six steps to then sit down in front of the blue-haired male. "The island was attacked by a hoard of Magical beasts that flew from the Forest of Darkness on the mainland, slaughtering most of the people. The warriors of the island tried to stop the attack, but the beasts kept flooding onto the island."

"At the time I was seven years old, my father, the chief of the island, led the remaining people that lived through the attack on a cargo ship. His second and fifth wife survived the attack and were the first of the people to be led on the ship. My mother, his first wife, used magic to save the people but... she lost her life in their place. My father, to this day, still blames himself for her death, and to mourn her he refuses to take another wife, or bear another child."

Jellal placed his hand on hers, squeezing it to reassure her it was alright, "So, are you an only child?"

"Yes, I am," Pride overwhelmed Erza, and it shocked Jellal to see her smiling so widely and brightly. "When we came to the mainland, a company offered my father a job at a large corporation they run, and he soon inherited it from the head of the company, who passed on about five years ago. I always told him I would become a strong warrior."

Jellal nodded his head, taking in the vast amount of information that Erza had just said to him, then he gave her an offer, "Would you like to hear my story?"

"If you do not mind sharing it," Erza gave Jellal a small smile, which he returned gratefully.

"I was raised in the Forest of Darkness..." Jellal hung his head, refusing to look at Erza, but he could tell that she was a little taken aback by what he said because of the grip she had on his hand. "My parents gave me up as a 'sacrifice' to the deity beast. Apparently, they gladly did it. The creature, who is practically my father, was named Tenebris."

"When I had just turned eight, there was a group of beasts who tried to overthrow Tenebris. They called him a 'human sympathiser' or 'weak' because of my existence within the Forest. But they were only low ranked beasts, and my father swiftly took care of them, expelling them from the Forest, which means they were probably the ones that attacked your island."

"I'm sorry," Jellal spoke weakly, causing Erza to watch him slowly, "It was my fault your mother died, I'm sorry."

"Your existence is not the reason why my parents died, Jellal," Erza whispered softly, taking his hands into hers. "The problem was the rebellion of beasts that thought they had power."

Jellal and Erza sat in silence for a few minutes, staring at each other. Jellal, despite what Erza said, still thought it was his fault, and promised to devote himself to making Erza's dreams reality.

"Ten minutes is up, shall we go?" Jellal asked; Erza only nodded her head.

They began preparing to find Natsu.

* * *

Adrian, now on the ground instead of a branch, stood rigidly and wide eyed.

His fingers were clenched around the handle of a knife, looking ready to fight. But, Adrian's body betrayed him as it turned to the side, and his feet that were planted firmly in the ground were ready to dash off with the flick of a trigger.

Natsu calmly walked forward, his large wings slightly spread as his eyes wandered upon his clawed and scaled hand. His other hand was out to the side of him, and when his fingertips came into contact with the butt of his sword, he pulled it out of the ground with little effort.

"I'd forgotten," Natsu began, his eyes wandering upon Adrian, whose body had broken out into a sweat, "What it felt like to be in this state. It increases my original power, or rank, by two ranks."

Adrian raised his hands up, flinging one knife towards Natsu. The hand that Natsu eyes had just been inspecting came out in front of him, directly to where the knife was flying to, and he swatted it out of the air like a mosquito.

"Let us not be hasty, boy," Adrian gleefully said with a masochistic grin. "I have still got a lot more experience than you."

Natsu nodded slightly, what Adrian said was true, but Natsu was far more stubborn than to admit defeat over something as trivial as experience this quickly. He merely shrugged his shoulders and vanished in mid air.

Adrian turned over and over, trying to sense where Natsu had gone. But he couldn't, it was like Natsu existence had vanished completely. Adrian turned once more, his long, slicked back, crimson red hair flowed behind him as he snapped his head forward, only to be eye to eye with a human in beast form.

Natsu took his fist and firmly planted it into the side of Adrian's face. The punch sent Adrian tumbling through the air like a rolling barrel until he stopped from colliding with the sturdy trunk of a tree.

Blood dribbled and cascaded like a small waterfall from Adrian's bottom lip and forehead. The once large and delighted grin that Adrian had was now nothing more than a distasteful look of annoyance.

Natsu cracked his fingers, his emotionless face simply staring at Arian's face. Natsu, rather amused with the sight he saw, flickered from his spot, which was a good 15 paces from Adrian, to appear right in front of his face.

Adrian smirked and lifted his fist rather quickly into Natsu face, but did not touch it. Instead, Adrian threw dirt into Natsu's eyes, hoping to blind him and make a swift get away.

When Natsu managed to get the dirt out of his eyes, he shook his head and looked down at where Adrian used to be. He lifted his nose into the air, sniffing like a wolf. Then, after finding out where Adrian was hiding, he raised the earth that Adrian hid on.

Adrian jumped off the moving earth and made a beeline straight towards Natsu, taking a knife and throwing it straight between Natsu eyes. Natsu, unprepared for the speed that the knife was hurled at.

He grabbed the knife in mid air, causing it to cut through his scales and cause his hand to bleed. Then, he hurled it straight back at Adrian. The small knife flew straight into Adrian's leg, effortlessly breaking the skin and sinking into the muscles.

Natsu moved forward slowly, then picked up Adrian by the throat.

"Wait, hold on!" Pleaded Adrian as he shook his hands crazily, "I know something about where you father might have been taken!"

Natsu raised one eyebrow, causing Adrain to sigh in relief, Adrian continued, "I'm not an Assassin sent here to kill the blonde. I've been following and listening to every conversation you and the blonde have had. I was sent here by The Black Mage to kill you; you're a problem in our current situation."

Adrian sealed his lips, no longer talking. Natsu seethed, "Tell me what else you know!"

"Not unless you take me to Gildarts," An insane laugh escape from the maniacs lips. "I trust my life in his hands more than yours, and I know he has been looking into this 'case'."

"Natsu..." His eyes darted over to a red-haired girl, a blue-haired male and a cat carrying a blonde girl. "Is that you?" Erza asked, her eyes wide in shock and fear.

"I'm not done with you," Natsu growled, he place Adrian down on the floor and then proceeded to break both his legs, "How's Lucy?" He questioned, moving quickly to her side.

"Natsu, what are you?" Erza managed to mumble out, causing Natsu to feel her fear and also her rage.

"I'm half human, half Magical Beast," He said monotonously, never taking his eyes off of Lucy's unconscious body, "But right now I need you to take Lucy back to the Academy, I'll be back there later this month. I will then explain to all of you what is happening."

"Natsu-" Erza began speaking but was cut off by Jellal.

"I'll make sure they get back; I'll transport us through the darkness now." Jellal picked up Lucy off of Happy's back, and soon he, Lucy and Erza were wrapped into a black abyss and had gone.

"So, let's visit Gildarts so I can get my father back." Natsu spread his wings and picked up Adrian.

Soon they were soaring over the forest, towards the Clive household...

* * *

Natsu was not happy.

When he had brought Adrian to Gildarts, Gildarts was waiting for them on the front lawn. He had a whole squad of the King's Assassins with him, the ones that he led, all armed to the teeth with weapons and such. As soon as they touched down, Gildarts sent in a handful of the men to take Adrian and chain him up.

After that the group of Assassins left, leaving Adrian tied to a chair in an empty room that Natsu was prohibited to go into.

So, he was not happy.

Now, in his human form, he stood pacing outside on the corridor while Gildarts was trying to extract any information he could from the masochist assassin. While Natsu was pacing, he failed to notice that Happy had been quiet ever since they had met up again. And he only just realised at this very moment.

"Hey, buddy," Natsu said, walking over to Happy and stroking his blue fur, "What's wrong?"

"I couldn't protect her as you asked me to," Happy said meekly; Natsu could already tell that Happy felt depressed because of it.

"No," Sternly, Natsu looked at Happy and leaned against the wall, "She didn't die, so I class that as you protected her. What happened out there?"

"When we were separated the wolves split into two packs, one pack followed you, and the other pack chased us away from you," Happy began. "I knew that if I tried to jump over them, I'd risk putting Lucy in danger. So instead I decided to turn and run, I thought maybe I could try and out run them. And I did, for an extended amount of time, but then all of a sudden the wolves were shot and killed, and now I was running from some mid levelled assassins, and there were about eight of them."

"I knew that I could probably take them on, but Lucy was on my back, what else could I do other than run? But when we got to the clearing one of the assassins fired something at my paws and I tripped over and Lucy went tumbling off of my back. One of the assassins grabbed her before she could get up and move and hit her on the head with the butt of their sword, I managed to kill him before she killed her. Then I defended Lucy's body, and that is when blue-haired guy and Erza showed up and helped take out the remaining Assassins."

Natsu nodded slowly - the Assassins had purposely set them up so they would be separated.

He petted Happy's head, then told him to rest as he'd been through a lot. As he did that Gildarts came out of the room and beckoned Natsu to move forward and into the chamber with him.

It'd been almost three years since Natsu had last laid eyes on Gildarts, and nothing about him had changed because upon entering saint rank you begin to stop ageing. Usually, only a handful of ninth level mages and warriors become saints, and it was even rarer for them to become a deity. Many reached saint rank at the age of forty, but some went even beyond that.

"Here's the information I had before you brought Adrian to me," Gildarts spoke openly with his arms crossed, "Your real father has split into two beings, one that conceived you with your mother, and Igneel, who lived in a deep crack in the earth to conceal himself from being found. Your mom was the child of the archangel, who is the Universe creator, and was a human. I don't know your mom's name, nor do I know if she lives now, but I do know that the people who took your father have a bigger plan than this."

"Are you trying to tell me I'm more important to this scheme than just finding Igneel?" Natsu probed.

"If they do not kill you, your original father won't be able to be at his full power-" Gildarts was rudely interrupted by Natsu, who was already heading for the door.

"Then we better go get him!"

"You idiot!" Gildarts grabbed him by the collar and pinned him against the wall, "These people are not people you can simply walk up to and hurt, they're more powerful than you and me, and one of them is more powerful than Makarov! It'd be a death sentence, and then they'd get what they wanted. Throwing away your life so easily won't help Igneel Natsu!"

Natsu and Gildarts glared at each other for awhile, while Adrian smirked at this fight.

"But there is a way to become just as powerful as your father, but you must reach saint rank first," Adrian giggled, shaking his head like a madman, "Have you heard of The Floors of Hell? Once every ten years they open and a group of Saint ranked individuals go inside and train to level up, but usually none of them seem to make it out alive, although there have been a few cases where some people have."

"Your point is?" Natsu snapped, his icy glare no longer directed at Gildarts.

"It recently just opened again, so if you use that excellent little scale you have around your neck and train for the next ten years, you might have a shot of getting into The Floors of Hell." Adrian seemed to be on the brink of insanity or sanity, but even Gildarts could tell that Adrian spoke the truth.

"I'll do it," Natsu said indignantly while turning on his heels.

"If you do it, you'll be coming with me." Roughly, Gildarts pulled on Natsu's collar once again. "You'll be training with me and working with me for the next ten years, and you won't see Lisanna or Cana for ten years, and you won't see Lucy or your team for the next ten years."

"Then I'll train with you, but Happy will stay with Lucy to protect her, seeing as armed assassins are after her," Natsu sighed, knowing he had no other choice, "Do you think she and Lisanna will reach said rank by the time I'm 25?"

"Lucy - she might. But Lisanna wouldn't have a chance to get that far. You have a talented team who are all from different back grounds, Natsu. All, just like you, seem to be born to someone who is powerful or isn't fully human. But none of them are half and half like you."

"Okay, we have nine years!" Natsu yelled, pumping his fist in the air.

"Why nine?" Gildarts asked, he moved to his desk and began writing a letter, it was probably for someone to come pick up Adrian as soon as possible.

"I want to see Luce and the team before heading into The Floors!"

Thus, was the beginning of the Ten Year Training Program.


	23. Chapter 23

**Typing up as many chapters as I can before school begins again, these messages won't be here anymore.**

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 **Review, comment, and favourite! Enjoy!**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 23: Two Years...**_

* * *

Natsu scratched at the stubble on his face. He was now seventeen years old, and a rank eight warrior; because of his warrior level, he had grown to five-foot-four-inches and had filled out more. He now looked stronger, and his muscle had become sharper and profound. You could now clearly tell that he was not someone to stop in the middle of the street for a drunken, but that didn't stop people from trying.

Not only had he increase one rank as a warrior, but he had also moved forward in his fire, earth and destruction magic, while his wind magic rank lacked behind. He was now a seventh ranked mage in all these magics- except for destruction which was now fourth ranked, but no matter how much he tried he couldn't progress any further in his wind element.

But Natsu now had a job, or, at least, something that was somewhat like a job. He now worked under the king's warrior ranks; he was immediately taken into this job when Gildarts announced that Natsu, at the time, was the youngest seventh ranked soldier. And to this date, he is the most inexperienced warrior to have reached the eighth rank on the continent.

"We're just going to rough up, and few people who like to conspire against the ruler," A terrible blonde hair man with a lightning scar that ran across his right eye swung a massive, two-handed sword over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "Unless you're afraid you can't handle them, Natsu."

Natsu, whose black cloak hung over his shoulders, and allowed people to see his bandaged stomach and ribs, nodded his head while smirking at the blonde. He stood up from the wooden log, grasping firmly on his dragon-hilted sword.

"If anyone should be afraid, it's you, Laxus." Sighing, he unclipped his cloak and let it fall to the floor, uncovering a hidden waist coat that was unbuttoned, "I'm stronger than you if we're looking regarding overall power, but as warriors, we're pretty much even."

Laxus was a 25-year-old male who had only just reached rank eight, like Natsu he was born into power; his grandfather being the powerful Makarov. Unlike Natsu, he was rather tall, and his muscles were more defined as some threatened to burst from under his skin. Natsu had met Laxus when he was sixteen. Natsu was already in the 20th squad when Laxus came to him, so he was no longer the newest recruit to the 20th platoons ranks. He had quite a sparky attitude and was the definition of hot-headed in combat.

"Anyways, aren't you and your pops meant to be doing a mission or somethin' later?" Laxus inquired, also making his move from a chair to the door. "It's said that you're leaving the squad because of how important it is."

"We are doing a job for the dean of my old school. I used to attend the magic Institute, and it appears that someone inside has ties to a shadowy organisation." Natsu lifted his hand in explanation, waving it to the side slightly. "There are people there that I have a duty to protect, so it can't be helped."

Natsu took his foot and placed it on Laxus' back that was facing him instead of the door, he then used his wind magic to give Laxus and boost, but make sure that he landed safely to fight, by sending him flying through the door.

"How about I give you a boost?" He said, smirking proudly with his master plan in mind. With just a little bit of he sent the door flying off its hinges and Laxus went forward along with it.

He pulled out a few throwing knives and aimed directly at the throats of these masked conspirators. Only three blades made it to their targets out of the four he strategically threw.

Then he gently placed Dezeus against a wall; he clapped his bandaged wrapped hands together. Laxus gave him a dirty glare through the corner of his eye, one that did not go unrecognised to Natsu. He cracked his knuckles separately, making sure that each one was well cracked.

One of the conspirators grabbed one of the blades Natsu had thrown off the floor and dived towards him with the knife held high above his head. Natsu curled his fingers into a fist and then raised his left arm. He blocked the downward knife attack and punched the person right in the jaw - sending them flying into the brick wall to the right. Another attack came from behind Natsu, which he elegantly side stepped. Then he grabbed the back of their head and smashed them right into a wooden table, that shattered under the immense pressure.

Laxus took his glinting, gigantic sword and thrust it into the stomach of a conspirator that tried to run straight at him; it split them in two like a hot knife to butter. Another jumped to the side of Laxus, trying to get a surprise attack on him, but Laxus was aware of his surroundings and then took his right hand off the sword handle; he threw a punch into the gut of the masked person.

Laxus and Natsu alone made quick work of the people who were gathered in the house. Natsu, who had orders not to kill but to arrest, took off the masks of several men and women. He ruffled his own hair slightly wondering why he was needed here if most of the people were at least from the fourth to the sixth rank.

He didn't care. He was going on a mission with Gildarts so he wouldn't be the kings clean up crew for when they messed up anymore.

* * *

Natsu finished packing the rest of his luggage. Although he was going away for quite some time he only packed a small bag; if Natsu needed anything along the journey, he would just have to take on some jobs and earn some jewels that way.

Natsu swung the bag over his shoulder, taking on a look and the cramped, concrete, cold room that he used to sleep in every night. In some strange way, it had become a home to him. The dim light that came through a tiny glass pane with a little white border around it; the echoes of footsteps or the creaking of the bed that annoyed him slightly. And, even in the winter when the cold hung in the room like a bad stench, it was, somewhat, a home to him.

He shut the door behind him, pushing the key into the lock and turning it twice, hearing the clink of the lock as it turned. Then, the same way that he had come to his room, he walked down to the bunker reception and handed in his key.

The end of his two-year job had given him quite a lot of jewels to spend when needed.

He exited, what he called, the bunker. When he wasn't inside the dingy little room he used to own, he was usually working or training. But during his training, he would admire the scenery of the town, taking in the cherry blossoms that lined the streets, or the natural architecture of the city.

He adjusted his sword on his side. His black boots tapped on the ground. His pants were tucked into the books to help his mobility, and he had a simple white tee on with a black cloak with the king's crest on it.

He sharply turned to face where he had just come from, a man in a black cloak falling on top of him placing a knife to Natu's neck. Natsu brought up his knee and swiftly kicked the person on top of him in the gut and then rolled him to the side. He went to punch the cloaked person, but instead, he ended up with a foot kicking him at least 3 foot away.

He was sprawled on the floor, writhing in agony for a little while; then when a foot was about to come down on his face, he rolled to the left, grabbed the mans other foot that wasn't in mid air and brought him to the ground. Natsu scrambled to his knees and pried the knife from the person's fingers.

He then placed the knife to their neck, but he could sense the grin from behind the mask. Natsu wasn't even aware of how it happened. But some how he ended up restrained by the masked man. It all happened so quickly.

"You're getting better." The gruff voice spoke. He let go of the hold he had on Natsu, pulling down his mask and hood.

"Well..." Natsu trailed off, picking himself up and wiping the dirt off his clothes, "Two years of sneak attacks will help with that, Gildarts."

"I guess you're right," Gildarts chortled, he pulled off his black gloves and shoved them into his pocket. "We're going to visit Makarov before we leave, so please wear the formal warrior outfit you were given for banquets and balls from the king."

"When do we leave? I'd like to go over to the king's gardens to train for awhile?" Inquired Natsu, he and Gildarts continued walking down the cobbled road.

Gildarts scratched the side of his jaw, just along the line where his beard started to grow. He looked at Natsu as they turned onto the main roads that led in and out of the city, they also passed by the castle.

"I don't see why not." He only said; he and Natsu flipped their cloaks over their shoulder and began walking faster.

Soon the two made it to the king's gardens. It was the largest garden in the whole city, made specifically for the king, and it was done to the king's design. The king had only one wife that he truly loved, and she was his first; when he found out she was pregnant, he ordered the best gardeners from all around the continent to tend to the garden. They planted cherry blossoms,; large rose bushes of all colours; sunflowers, and anything else that his wife liked.

Now that his first wife had given him a large family of five children that would continue his royal lineage he continued to take in more women for his own pleasure. Natsu, when he first met the king, thought that the way he looked at his first wife was something precious. But, when he met the king in front of his second wife and fourth wife, he looked at them with a hungry passion.

"I still can't believe that fat pig has sixteen women," Natsu said to Gildarts as they made their way through the gardens. "I'd rather just marry once; then I'd never get confused about who's taking over as the head of my family, or who my children come from."

"I think you get that part of you from growing up with me as your adoptive parent." Chortled Gildarts as he led the way through the gardens.

Natsu continued with his rant, "I mean, I just don't get it. Being loyal is what a wife has to do to keep her decency; once she is married, it's for life. One man for her entire life. Why can't a man show that loyalty back?"

"The more wives a man has, the more powerful he is," Gildarts stated, agreeing with Natsu's rant but offering another side to the argument. "I never really cared for social status."

"The more powerful he is?" Natsu scoffed, questionably raising one eyebrow, "I'm pretty sure I could kill him with a flick of my wrist. He even tried marrying one of his daughters off to me as my first wife."

"Oh?" Gildarts raised his eyebrow too. This was the first time he had heard of this, "And what did you say?"

Natsu coughed a little a small tint of red rising up his neck, crawling its way to his cheeks. He cleared his throat, "I told him no, and said that I was waiting for someone."

Gildarts threw an arm around Natsu, placing his fist to Natsu temple and twisting it. He laughed loudly, "Who? Who? Lisanna or Lucy?"

They heard a faint cough and a small giggle and turned to see the first wife with her three daughters. Natsu and Gildarts both stood tall, embarrassed by their silly shenanigans. The three girls blushed, each of them having their own little crush on Gildarts for being a strong Ninja, and Natsu for being the most eligible bachelor.

"So, Warrior Natsu," The first wife began, her black hair flowing down her back, "You don't see a point in taking on multiple wives?"

The wife and her daughters all moved together; the first lady gestured for Natsu and Gildarts to lead them to the lounging area of the garden.

"No, your highness," Natsu said very formally, his and Gildarts' hands behind their backs.

"And, who is the lucky girl?" She gave a small laugh again, "I'm sure some of my girls are interested to know."

"He refuses to tell me, your highness, so I have a slight doubt that he'll want to tell you too," Gildarts smirked at Natsu, which made Natsu emit a small growl of annoyance.

"Your highness, I don't have anyone waiting for me except my friends and comrades. The only reason I told the king that I didn't want to marry is that I'd like to propose it by myself and not have it forced on me." Natsu gave Gildarts the evil eye, who was still smirking.

The first wife nodded slightly, "Well, you should train and get ready to leave."

* * *

After Natsu had finished his secluded training, which lasted around three hours, he picked up his bag and sword and exited the garden by vaulting over the wall.

Before he had begun his training Gildarts had told him briefly that he was going to have to make his own way back to the institute, which was about an hour away. Natsu had planned it out on a map, he'd cut through the forest and then he'd train in a village that was half way in between the institute and the castle After that he'd follow the main path back into the city.

After his feet firmly settled on the ground he moved to the local tavern just down the street. It was a large place, most of the warriors and mages part of the king's army went there to relax and enjoy their moments of peace for awhile. Natsu was no exception to this - he did mediocre jobs for the king and was overpaid for it, while Gildarts worked in life or death situations and seemingly got paid the same amount.

He pushed open the large black doors of the tavern, pushing down the golden handle and strolling in as multiple of the men and women inside looked at him. The tavern was dimly lit by candles that hung from a chandelier in the centre of the room, and the corners had one candle stick each. All around glasses were being placed onto the rich, dark brown tables.

"Hey, can I use the bathroom to get changed?" He asked the bar keeper, who looked to be polishing the bar till it was spotless.

The barkeeper grinned from ear to ear, his black hair smoothly pushed back, and he straightened out his waist coat, "Go ahead, Natsu!" The barkeeper tossed him the key, "I'll get a drink ready for your leave, still can't believe it's your last day here."

"Thanks, Macao." Natsu grinned back, catching the key with one hand without needing to look. "And I'll definitely come back in a year or two. Afterall, I promise to train Romeo."

Macao took his cigarette from his mouth and gave a chesty cough, as well as a laugh. Natsu, who was now at the bathroom door, watched Macao pull out a small, crystal pattern glass, and poured a small amount of whiskey in it. Natsu smiled and entered the bathroom, quickly changing into his clothes presented to him from the king out of gratitude.

It consisted of the cloak that he wore almost constantly, as well as a pair of loose black trousers that tucked into a pair of black boots. Around the legs were black straps that knives and different throwables could be connected to. And, for a top, he wore a jacket-like piece of clothing with three buttons on either side; it was black and had gold buttons on it.

Natsu didn't like that the outfit was entirely black, but the king seemed to have an obsession with the colour. He groaned as he stridden out the bathroom, he was glad that the outfit was slim and light, and wasn't like the furs that weighed down the king even more so than without his furs.

"Natsu, you look like the king's puppet!" Macao cried out in laughter, tears forming at the side of his eyes. "Why did you join the king in the first place?"

"Gildarts gave me a condition on something that I needed to do, in return he asked me to work with the king's men." Natsu sat down at the bar, taking a small sip of the liquor that trickled down his throat like raindrops. "I agreed because there was nothing else I could do. I need to become a saint rank by the time I'm twenty-five."

"Hold up," Macao grabbed a glass and began polishing it, slightly taken aback. "You'd look twenty-five forever, how do you plan on getting married?"

"There's someone I know who might be a saint by the time they are twenty-seven, but probably by the time they are thirty." Natsu knocked back the last of the liquid that burned his throat, "It's not too bad of a gap, at least she won't look forty-five and I won't look like her child."

Natsu pushed himself off the barstool, he grabbed his bag which he had placed on the ground and then sighed a little. He waved goodbye to Macao, and then went around to some of the tables saying his goodbyes to his comrades and friends. As he was about to leave, the door burst open and hit him the face, but because it was made of wood the door was the only thing that was damaged.

"Looks like we're going together, Natsu." Natsu looked up to see a smirking Laxus, "My fiancee's mother would like to talk to me about our arranged marriage and it's near the Institute."

Laxus and Natsu walked out together, casually taking short strides along the stone path, "Who's your fiancee's mother?"

"I believe her name is Cornelia," Natsu almost choked on the air around him. "Once I reach saint rank and she reaches around age twenty, I'll be able to marry her. Her name is Cana."

"Like hell you are!" Natsu yelled, a growl forming from low in his throat, "That's my sister. Plus the age gap is kind of insane, don't you think?"

"She's just reached eighteen, has she not? That's the age most women marry at." Natsu simply glared at Laxus, who smirked as a result. "You're goin' to have to call me 'Big Bro', you know."

"I'll kill you."


	24. Chapter 24

**Follow me on Wattpad: JxzzyRocks**

 **I'll probably be posting a new story on there soon! Also, I have started school, so I won't be able to post as much, and the chapters will be shorter.**

 **Sorry for the inconvenience.**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 24: Your Mission**_

* * *

Laxus watched as Natsu breathed in deeply and exhaled. Natsu's eyes were closed, and his hands were lightly rested on his knees.

Laxus tried to touch Natsu once, but his hand felt like it was being cut by a thousand blades and he immediately pulled away, slightly worried that he'd use his swinging hand. He continued to watch Natsu, he held onto the handle of his sword taking a grind stone and running it over the side of the blade a few times.

Natsu, who was in a state of deep concentration, focusing on trying to rank up his wind element, slowly opened his eyes. They fluttered slightly and then opened to their average size; Natsu gave Laxus a cold glare before promptly picking himself up off the ground. He took two strides and grabbed his bag off the field, and connected his sword, which had been leant against a tree, to his side.

"I told you not to touch it, or you'll get hurt," Natsu said nonchalantly, he slung the bag over his shoulder and then pointed in a direction.

"I'd hate to know how your future children deal with you," Laxus said in an annoyed tone. "Let us move then."

"I won't be coming with you," Natsu said, taking two steps in a slightly different direction to Laxus. It was slightly to the left, "If you head in that direction you'll get to my home quicker, and you do not want to annoy Cornelia by being late, it is better if you turn up earlier."

Laxus shrugged, lifting up his hand before running off down the path. Natsu watched as he left, and once he was a blur in the distance, Natsu began to slowly walk down the overused, dirt road. He didn't have anyone to converse with, seeing as he left Happy to protect Lisanna and Lucy, and he had none of his friends with him.

Now that his wind magic was rank seven he could technically learn a spell that'd allow him to fly, but he didn't want to burn out his spiritual energy in case he needed to fight or help out some people who had no magic. He placed his arms behind his head, slowly walking down the middle of the road, taking in the scenery of the forest.

He was so lost in thought, that he didn't notice the horse-drawn carriage that came stampeding down the path with intense speed. Natsu turned his head to see a carriage driver passed out, which let the horses run free straight down the road. He saw the carriage drivers window and laid eyes upon two girls and an older man.

He jumped up, the horses speeding right past, not stopping. He used his wind magic to move to the top of the carriage, naturally startling the top girls inside because they cried out a little. He jumped down from the upper part into the driver's seat, moving the driver over to the side a little and securing him in so that he didn't fall out.

He grabbed the reins and slowly brought the horses under control, once they had slowed and calmed down he moved the carriage over to the side of the dirt road and jumped out of the driver's seat. He then came round to the side and checked that the man was still alive by placing his fingers on the pulse on the man's wrist. It was very faint, but with some medicine, he'd be okay.

He banged on the door of the carriage, "Hey, are you alright in there?" He asked. It was courtesy not to open the door - if there were a woman who was about to get married in there the first man to see her would be her father and the second her husband.

A man, who was large and wearing a white suit, stepped out and two girls, who looked like him a lot, came out behind him. He could tell that they were some upper-class citizens and probably enrolled in the Institute.

"Thank you, young man, for saving us." The man refused to touch Natsu, thinking he was some sick child. "As a reward, I'd like to offer you a ride to Magnolia when our driver awakens."

"I must decline your offer, it'd take some time and your carriage driver is ill." Natsu didn't bow, instead, he pulled the king's cape, with the emblem of the king, over his shoulders and nodded. "It'd take too long for me to get there and I'm on a short schedule. Have a nice day."

He took off running down the path, this whole incident had taken some time, and he was worried about being late and scolded by Gildarts.

* * *

Natsu arrived at the gates of the town, using his cape to quickly gain access to the city.

He looked at the sky and could tell that it was almost time for him to meet Gildarts. He took off running at full speed through the town, weaving in between comers and goers of the city, at one point he had to jump high over a group of tourist and hung from a taverns sign to dodge and large man.

He continued running through the city until reaching the Institute. He felt a nauseous feeling rise in him; his palms and fingers became a little bit sweaty as he fumbled with his student ID card that allowed him into the school. The guard, who was a little shocked at the young warrior, nodded briefly and allowed Natsu inside the Institute.

"Isn't that a king's man? What would he be doing here?" A few people whispered, and those who didn't know much were confused. But soon the rumour spread that was back.

"That's Natsu." One boy said. It was one that was in his wind element classes in the first year. "He took on guys who had been here forever and won, and then he left, and Makarov wouldn't tell his friends why he was gone. He must have got recruited by the king for being so talented."

Natsu continued walking with his head up; his pace was quick as he wanted to avoid conversation with many people who tried to call out to him. But one voice struck him, and he stopped, looking at the white-haired girl who he'd known since he was little. She looked like she was about to cry and burst out in curses and profanity. But she didn't, she just stood there - emotionless.

Natsu walked up to her and placed his right hand on her left shoulder, "It's good to see you again." He whispered, smiling slightly as he continued to walk past her.

He kept moving until he felt two tiny hands gripping his cape, "Before you leave again, I want to tell you that I've always loved you!" Lisanna cried, causing a commotion.

Natsu kept his head straight, but spoke softly to Lisanna, "I have no time for a relationship, although in the circumstances before what has happened, happened, I would have. I'm sorry Lisanna, but your feelings make me happy."

He turned to her and grinned, placing a hand her head and then slowly leaving to find Gildarts. When he did find Gildarts, he sighed, slightly overjoyed that he wasn't being stared at now. Gildarts greeted him, and he welcomed Gildarts back; then both of them moved into the main hall where Makarov had the rank seven class introduction.

Natsu could hear Makarov's voice echoing through the entire room as he told the students how the exams worked, and how to pass and become and full-fledged mage. He knocked on the door lightly, then entered with a parchment in hand that had the details of Gildarts' and Natsu's mission on it.

"Makarov, I'm here to finalize details of the five-year mission you have assigned to myself and Gildarts Clive, I just need you to sign this," He held up a rolled piece of paper and Gildarts mentioned for him to come forward. "Sorry for the intrusion."

"This here," Makarov gestured to Natsu, "is someone I considered my top student. But now, considering some of his element magics are of the eighth or seventh rank, has passed school at the request of the king. He is truly talented."

Natsu had his hood up, making sure that people didn't recognize him. He didn't want to see Lucy or Gray and have to explain that he was going again, it'd be better if they didn't see him until nine years were up.

"If he's that strong, then he should be able to hit me from over here." One of the thirty-year-olds sniggered, I'm sure he's just a child acting as though he's powerful."

"Ignis," Natsu said quickly after the man stopped speaking. A ball of fire hurtled towards the man, leaving a trail of golden sparks in the air. His hand was open, and as the ball was about to hit the man, he closed his fist, and the ball of fire dispersed.

"Please try not to kill my students, son." Makarov chuckled as did Natsu, "Be safe out there, it's dangerous."

"Don't worry about me, Gramps." Natsu grinned at him and turned to leave, his eyes catching some doe brown orbs, he kept his attention on her. Almost as if he was directing it to her but he said it to Makarov, "I'll see you in seven years."

* * *

Natsu threw his 'posh' clothing into a bag. It's not that he wasn't grateful for the gift, but he didn't like the tight feel of the clothes or how he stood out in a crowd when he wore them. He always felt like he stuck out like a sore thumb in them; everyone would move out of his way, or even bow, because of the fabric that he wore.

Now, in a simple cotton shirt and rough cut trousers, he felt comfortable. His bag went over his shoulder and across his body, hanging on his left side, and his sword was on his right-hand side.

Natsu was surprised he thought Happy would have tried to contact him through their mental bond. But he hadn't.

He tucked in the random cloth that fell out of his pocket, gently pinching the soft silk as he did so; he wondered what it was, but that'd have to wait for another time.

Quickly, he ran down the small corridor; with a great sigh he flung open the large doors that brought light to his eyes and he smiled gleefully. He had never travelled far from home, the furthest he had been was when he entered the Mountain Range - but now, with an overwhelming sense of pride, he felt like he had accomplished something small.

Now, was time for another small part of his great quest:

He was going to save his father, and nothing would stop him!


	25. Chapter 25

**A comment was left saying take Lucy out of the tags. Now, I don't know who left it, because it was a guest review,** **but Lucy is essential to the story.** **Also,** **the shipping for this story has not been set,** **as even I don't know what I want it to be.**

 **Enjoy this latest chapter!**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 25: Why a Stakeout When We Can Stake In?**_

* * *

Natsu stared unhappily at the door; his forehead became wrinkled with stress lines and his pupils dilated because of the flickering candle. But, it wasn't a door he was staring at - it was more like bars placed closely to each other so that no one could press through the gaps and escape. There was a chunk of metal, about an inch and half thick with a keyhole in it, to which Natsu did not have the key for.

And, if you were wondering why Natsu was here, it was a long story. How long? About three days and an hour to explain the whole story of what happened for Natsu to be chucked into a prison cell like a sack of potatoes.

Natsu and Gildarts had been at the mansion that the governor lived in, although they weren't allowed on the property, they had hidden amongst a variety of bushes and trees. Gildarts, who was a professional at stakeouts, had been keeping an eye on the governor.

Gildarts suspected that he was apart of the organisation that Natsu father was apart of, but he couldn't just walk in saying:

'Are you apart of a group that is planning on destroying individual towns?' or, 'Did you kidnap a man from a cave more than ten years ago?'

Instead, they had to find concrete evidence that this man was apart of the organisation Natsu's father ran. That was easier said than done, but only if Gildarts hadn't brought the most impatient boy on the planet with him, who wanted to charge into the room like a one-man army, and swing his sword around slicing through the furniture and people as if they were cotton teddybears.

Gildarts couldn't count on all his fingers and toes how many times he'd had to jump on Natsu and pin him down to stop him from attacking their suspect, nor could he count how many times he'd had to knock the riled boy out when he'd become too agitated. Gildarts had almost given up on the thought of ever listening into the governor's conversations, but Natsu still stuck to his training, and that gave Gildarts time.

On one night, when the wind had been howling too fiercely, and the bitter cold threatened to freeze Natsu's ears off, he decided that it was a good idea to get a little closer to the mansion. Natsu's hearing was much better that Gildarts' hearing, so being closer to the mansion would have allowed him to hear the conversation and then get the jump on the governor.

Gildarts was still asleep until he heard the loud crash of glass shattering and the enraged screams of anger that were carried by the winds harsh breeze. He jumped to action much quicker than a normal person would after they'd just woken up; sprinting like a madman he saw that Natsu was severely outnumbered by eighth-ranked warriors until he turned into his beast form.

Gildarts began picking off stray soldiers from the back of the pack, throwing needles laced with a vicious poison into the back of their necks. Meanwhile, from the front, Natsu had been breaking steel blades with his bare hands, then showing them through the stomach of their owner. He was failing his claws around insanely, and the wild look in his eyes struck fear in the hearts and minds of his foes.

Five minutes later, and there was nothing but sweat, blood, corpses and a few stragglers that could barely walk attempted to get away. Gildarts' fingers were numb from all the throwing he had done; Natsu was panting from all the elaborate motions he had done during his fight.

Natsua nd Gildarts ran like their lives depended on it, but the guards were hot on their heels, nipping at them like rabid dogs that tried to disable their prey. It wasn't long before the animalistic guards caught up with the two, who were fleeing towards a nearby forest, and tackled them, like they were pillows, to the floor. Their hands were twisted behind their backs, and magic cancelling cuffs were attached to their wrists.

That brings us to this moment in time, where both Natsu and Gildarts were sat across from each other. Both of them in two different holding cells, staring at the same iron bars and getting sick of the same guard that walk by repeatedly; his off-tune whistling making Natsu want to knock himself out by slamming his head it to the old brick walls.

"Gildarts; Natsu. You both got caught?" The familiar chesty cough and rough voice played in their ears.

A cough turned into a short chortle, and a man with wrinkled eyes and a creased forehead came into sight. His beard evenly trimmed and his suit seemed like it had diamonds in its lining, and he was a sight for Natsu's eyes.

"I must guess that it was Natsu's fault that you ended up in this cell Gildarts, Lucy always talks about how Natsu did stupid things. Or, how he was always there to help her in a struggle, or simply annoy her." Jude laughed, making Natsu's eyes brighten a little bit.

"Please," Gildarts laughed too, "I wouldn't have gotten caught like this, I would like to think that you'd know that."

"That's why I'm here to help; you're both officially released under the fact that you were undergoing an operation for the king of this Kingdom. He would like to meet with you both to talk about your little 'problem' and Natsu's training."

"That doesn't sound very good..." Natsu gulped, he was quite nervous as the first kind he met he wasn't a fan of.


	26. Chapter 26

**Wow, it's been awhile. To this day I'm still getting favourites and follows due to this story. For a long course of time, I could not write or upload anything I had written. But, I am back now and ready to begin my journey of finishing this story. Let us commence!**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 26: Well, You COULD Marry Her?**_

* * *

Natsu, Girldarts and Jude stepped into the golden wood carriage. At first, Natsu's mind was ill at ease, he was worried about Lucy and his friends and also nervous to meet a king again - it wasn't really his cup of tea. However, after carefully chosen words of encouragement, and the fact that Gildarts held this man with high regards as a friend rather than his ruler, Natsu's mind came to rest. He was assured of the fact that Lucy, Gray, Erza, Juvia and Happy were completing missions and training their hardest - they wanted to walk alongside him not be protected by him.

The carriage moved unevenly along the bumpy stone path; every stone threatened to break a wheel or tip the carriage onto its side. Natsu wasn't good with carriage rides, in fact, he didn't like forms of transportation at all.

"When we get there, I beg of you don't throw up on the king's shoes." Gildarts laughed heartily, his features wrinkling up at either cheek. "It will be a little embarrassing for both Jude and I and also yourself too."

"I'm truly afraid of that, so why do we not get out here and walk through the forest? I heard from a few neighbours that hunting beasts and food is a good sport here." Suggested Jude with a sly grin, which Natsu waved off. "Driver we'll be walking from here on out!"

With that the party of three clambered out of the cramped carriage, taking with them all the luggage that they had brought with them. They casually bantered, then Natsu made it clear to Jude that he was the eighth rank in all the elements he practised, but not in destruction, which was ranked at four. Jude made it apparent that Lucy had reached a large and thick wall when it came to overcoming the seventh rank, but she was determined as ever to do it.

Natsu stepped foot in the forest, the air was warm but a slight breeze made it comfortable to walk in. The outer layer of the forest was laced with low-levelled beast and wildlife that hurried away from them. Every so often a beast would be uncomfortably close to Natsu, it would sense his strength, turn to run, then Natsu would throw a stone at it and kill it. He collected their cores to sell, then moved on with the walk.

Gildarts always seemed to be on guard, and every five minutes he would ask Natsu to do a scan of the area. He would do so and then they would restart their advance to the castle.

"So, Natsu my boy..." Jude's voice rang out in the silence that hung between the three men. "I do believe you're at the age to get hitched to a lovely lady, don't you?"

"I wouldn't exactly say that I'm ready, with being so close to saint rank and my personal goal of slaughtering the man who took my father, it would be far too difficult to have children and maintain a loving relationship whilst pursuing my goals." Natsu reply sincerely, this being the reason that he rejected Lisanna's confession.

"What if she could be beside you through all of that, then maybe you'd have a shot of a family." This idea made Natsu ponder in thought as Jude continued to talk about romance and possible love interest for him. "Who do you think would be that woman?"

"The closest I can get to thinking of a woman like that would be Lucy, however, I've seen people try to kill her. It's far too dangerous for me to take her along with me - I'd only worry. If she were to start trying to become a warrior it may do me a great favour. Other than that she'll become a saint a few years after I do, only then after my mission would I agree to court her."

"Natsu..." Gildarts laughed a little, "I can tell by your sincere words that you've thought of taking your relationship with Lucy seriously. So, I ask you this: are you completely at ease when you think that this mission could take tens of years from your life, that Lucy will wait that long for you; that she will love you unconditionally although you are not married and she is not too. Do you not worry that during that time she will meet another? If you indeed believe her to wait even though you do not know her feelings, then by all means wait - if there is doubt, then you should seize this opportunity."

"We are still talking about my daughter, right? Her patience's is her downfall; she rushes into things head first and full of heart, surely as her father I do not believe she will wait." Jude chimed in on Gildart's speech regarding love. "Her mother has arranged severely partners for her to wed, she will meet them over the course of this year and choose one at the end."

"I feel slightly weird talking to you about marrying your daughter, it's a little awkward." Natsu scratched the back of his head.

Jude laughed, slapped Natsu on the back and then whispered in his ear, "I do give you my permission to court Lucy."

Natsu nodded, slightly flushed in the face; he began walking faster, with more purpose than before they had this chat. Jude looked at Gildarts and he looked back. Both of them chuckled silently to avoid being captured by Natsu's looks of nervousness to his back. They secretly had spoken of this before Gildarts had left on his mission, how they would love it if their two families could join under the union of their children, thus they riled up Natsu to try and get him to marry Lucy and think about something else other than training and revenge.

Their plan may have worked, but until Natsu saw Lucy again they could not tell if he would take initiative or if they should have riled up Lucy instead, who would have flown straight towards Natsu.

"I believe my daughter would scare him off if we had told Lucy." Jude silently whispered in a hushed laugh.

"I'm still betting that he'll be serious until he sees her and then he'll cower. He's only used to the emotion of anger, love is beyond his control." Maybe Gildarts could have been right, maybe he could have been wrong.

They continued forward to the castle, the two older men talking, while Natsu was stuck inside his head. It rattled with new thoughts that could possibly disturb his future plans - he just couldn't have that, so instead, he'll have to change them.


	27. Chapter 27

**To the angry and agitated guest reviewer,** **  
I'm not going for a love triangle. If I was I'd make it abundantly clear. At the time I began writing this story I had no idea what the pairing was going to be, so therefore I made two love interests that he could choose from. I asked readers to comment who they believe should be together. They chose NaLu. So, to calm you down and show that I, in fact, know what I'm doing, the pairing is NaLu. I did this simply to be spiteful. I also believe you're wrong - seeing as I'm writing this story and have a plan in place - I believe his connection is more with Lucy. Childhood friends mean nothing.  
The tags aren't just for pairings, they're for important characters.  
Your's sincerely,  
The Author of This Story Who Knows What They Are Doing. :)  
**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 27: Reunion.**_

* * *

The journey through the forest was long. Too long for Natsu to be able to comprehend how much his feet hurt and how many mysterious blisters had appeared on his feet. The rain was heavy, the wind was heavy and Natsu's mind was heavy with fatigue. He had spent too long doubting himself on his choice to leave school, and during that time he had lost Gildarts and Jude in the heavy rainfall. He was nearing the age of 20 very soon, yet all this talk of regret and doubt made him doubt whether he was ready to fight the man who had taken his father.

It was too late to think about it now.

The rain thickened; it soon began to hail small shards of ice that pelted his skin like blunt arrowheads. He decided it would be a smart idea to head for shelter till the rain and hail ceased, then he could move quickly towards the distant outline of a castle in the distance. Why a king would live in such a lonely area was beyond him. He wouldn't question it either; he just had to get there and talk to him about whatever he wanted and then deal with it smoothly and swiftly. That way he could go back to training in seclusion - if it can even be called that with Gildarts there.

He took shelter in a small cave; he could touch the ceiling of it with the palm of his hand, which meant he could feel the smooth ridges which had been formed from erosion over a long period of time. The cave smelt damp and had an unrecognisable scent to it, which Natsu could only scrunch up his nose too and squint his eyes. Although the first metre of the cave was wet due to the direction of rainfall, the middle and back we're dry and cool to sit on.

It had taken about an hour or so for the rain to lighten, but it wasn't going to cease. Natsu decided on a gut feeling that things weren't going to get any better, thus he made his way from the cave out into the light spring shower and began to run at a leisurely pace.

He ran for a while, about 5 miles or so, before stopping to check his surroundings. He'd noticed about two miles back an ominous black shadow following him through the woods; he was confused, a little on edge and his body was preparing for its flight or fight reaction. It was something he'd recently become comfortably accustomed to.

"Who is there?" He said into the darkness of the forest, the figure masked himself in the shadow of the foliage.

"No one important, keep going." It was a meek voice - it sounded like a young boy who was tired from running so much.

"You sound like a child, come out and I'll help you if you're lost." Natsu slowly paced towards where the voice was coming from. Instead of a small boy, he was greeted by the sight of a half breed beast.

"I'm not lost..." The half breed stuttered. "Actually, maybe I am, just a little."

Natsu laughed, amused by the sight of the little boy with grey scaley skin with horns twisting out of his head. His eyes were a bright blue and his fangs protruded by half an inch over his lip. His hair was shaggy and white, it also was matte which caused it to stick in one place just above his eyes.

"Humans don't normally talk to me, they say I'm a freak and run away." The small child played with his fingers, twisting his tiny foot into the dirt.

Natsu bent down to become eye level with him, "Luckily for you I'm not a human too, however, I have the ability to hide my form. Where are you going?"

"To the castle, I work for the king there; I run errands around the halls. I'm super fast!" The boy demonstrated by running to a tree in the blink of an eye.

"Awesome!" Natsu said, pumping his fist up in the air he gave a wide smile. "I'm heading to the castle too, we can head there together."

The boy nodded quickly, his hair barely moving due to the amount of dirt in it. Then they began running through the forest again quickly and eventually made their way through the castle gates and into the main hall. Here Gildarts and Jude were waiting, along with a group of four others and the king who sat impatiently tapping his fingers on his throne.

"Well thank the God's that you are here now!" Gildarts yelled improperly, he bowed and excused his behaviour. "The people we're to work with have already arrived, ambassadors from your school."

"Sorry, I got lost and then met up with this little one here." He pointed down beside him, showing off a little boy who looked at the ground with shame. "I'm here now, so let's being."

"Natsu?" Hushed a voice reached his ears, a voice very familiar to him. "Late as always." The voice scolded.

"Gray," Natsu smirked. "Complaining as always I see."

"We're in the presence of a king, can you two reframe yourselves from childish antics." He noticed the flash of red hair, knowing too well that this harsh voice was Erza's.

"Juvia is very happy to see you after such a long time, Natsu." He looked up to see her small smile and he nodded in acknowledgement.

"Juvia, nice to see you too!" He looked to the last person of the group. "Who would have known that you'd all become ambassadors, especially Gray, but I knew Luce had it in her!"

The king cleared his throat, introducing himself as the King of this tiny country, which he was very proud of nevertheless. He explained that the country was having a bandit problem and he'd like them to help. But there was a twist...

"You see, these thieves stole my princess!" The king yelled, smacking his hand off of his chair. "These princess thieves have stolen my daughter, my wonderful daughter. She has never wronged anyone in her life, she's so sweet and humble and caring. These bandits wish to use her as an advantage, a pawn, I won't allow it! Nope, I will not!"

"You want this team to save her?" Gildarts said, his hand gesturing towards the five friends. "Natsu and I could have easily done it together."

"The point is that their skill set is best." The king explained quickly. "These bandits are far more than the common rabble you see around now. They're apart of the Ominous Bandit Group, known as OBG, that have been around for centuries. They have skilled mages on their side, they need to be handled quickly and eradicated. This team is best for that, they contrast the skills of the bandits."

"Are you asking us to kill?" Lucy asked; the king nodded. "I can't kill another person, it's not right. They should be imprisoned, then dealt with to proper accord."

"I'll kill them, you guys just defeat them," Natsu said, staring blankly at the king. "You knew they wouldn't kill because they're students, that's why Gildarts and I are here. You've heard that we've killed before, so you decided that the mages will knock them out, immobilise them and save the princess, then Gildarts and I swoop in a kill them, right?"

"You catch on quick" The king laughed.

"I won't go against the ethics of the group, deal with them yourself. We'll bring them to you tied up and capture. But you have to kill them through proper authorities." The king and Natsu stared each other down.

"Fine." The king seethed.


	28. Author Note and Apology

Hey guys!

It's the author here. You guys probably weren't expecting an update on this story anytime soon. I understand that some of you may also be annoyed or fuming at what I'm about to reveal, but I also know some of you will understand.

In the UK the movement from GCSE exams to college is very short, about 6 weeks, and then once you're in college you have two years to learn the specification for the subject, which is shorter than five years at GCSE.

For this reason, although I have tried to spark some inspiration to finish this story, I am discontinuing this story.

I've only recently got my creative spark back and I want to focus that into something new and exciting; something that will be finished!

If you have any suggestions feel free to send them my way, you know for short stories or long stories, and don't be afraid to message me if you were wondering how I was going to end the story or you want to see what I was going to do going through with the plot.

Keep creative guys.

Thank you for your support on this story and I'm sorry to have let you down.


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